false dawn

Noun

false dawn (plural false dawns)

1. A thin ambient light which precedes true dawn, typically by around an hour, in certain parts of the world.
   • The moon was low down, and there was just the glimmer of the false dawn that comes about an hour before the real one.1888, Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills

   Synonyms:

   zodiacal light

2. (figuratively) Something engendering premature hope; a promising sign which in fact leads to nothing.
   • As Congo nears the 50th anniversary of its independence from Belgium on June 30th, Mr Chebeya’s murky death suggests that 2006 was a false dawn.2010 June 10, “It could be a cover-up”, in The Economist
   • This, it must be stressed, is not to mark Arsenal out as potential Premier League winners or acclaim them as the finished product - there have been false dawns before, under both current manager Mikel Arteta and his predecessor Unai Emery.2022 October 1, Phil McNulty, “Arsenal 3-1 Tottenham: Gunners show identity & direction in outstanding derby win”, in BBC Sport