rearrange

be like rearranging (the) deckchairs on the Titanic

To be a task, activity, or course of action that will ultimately prove trivial or futile in its possible effect or outcome. You're giving the baby a bath before we eat spaghetti? That's like rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.
See also: deckchairs, like, on, rearrange, titanic

rearrange (one's) face

1. To change one's facial expression, especially to hide a negative feeling or reaction. Hearing the news filled me with shock and despair, so I took a moment to rearrange my face before returning to the table.
2. To badly damage or mutilate one's face by violently attacking it. He threatened to rearrange my face if I didn't give him everything in my pockets. He's a towering bulk of man who could rearrange your face with a single punch.
See also: face, rearrange

rearrange (the) deckchairs on the Titanic

To partake in or undertake some task, activity, or course of action that will ultimately prove trivial or futile in its possible effect or outcome. Primarily heard in UK, Australia. For all his blustering about overhauling the education system, the prime minister might as well have been rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic for all the good these proposals will do. You're applying for arts council funding? Why don't you just rearrange deckchairs on the Titanic while you're at it?
See also: deckchairs, on, rearrange, titanic
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

rearrange someone's face

injure or mutilate someone's face by hitting it. informal
See also: face, rearrange
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

rearrange the ˌdeckchairs on the Tiˈtanic

if something is like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, it is an activity that is not worth doing because it cannot improve the situation: None of the staff believe that the new system will improve anything. It’s simply a case of rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.This expression refers to the famous ship that sank after hitting an iceberg on its first voyage.
See also: deckchairs, on, rearrange, titanic
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • be like rearranging (the) deckchairs on the Titanic
  • deckchairs
  • move (the) deckchairs on the Titanic
  • rearrange (the) deckchairs on the Titanic
  • rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic
  • shift (the) deckchairs on the Titanic
  • run in circles
  • balls around
  • be running around in circles
  • be no mean...
References in periodicals archive
FLINT Town Council has just two weeks to rearrange its Christmas light switch on after finding out half of the area's school pupils can't go.
SWITCH ON SWITCH; Rethink after Christmas lights event clash with school concerts
The illness has also made him rearrange five dates on his much-anticipated North American tour.
Virus forces Timberlake to axe gig
there is a very clear message: we will go around you, we will deal direct with hospitals and local hospital networks, and we will rearrange your budget for you.
Don't play politics with health: PM
Rearrange the words on the shooting stars to create eight space-related anagrams that match the given clues.
Astronomical anagrams
In such situation the news item published in various news papers demanding from the UoP controller to rearrange the missed papers carries no weightage.
UoP announce new schedule for M.A, MSc exams for flood hit areas
Any library strong in either interior decoration or business titles simply must have REARRANGE IT!
Rearrange It!
The Chinese traders were given 24 months from May 2008 to rearrange their businesses or face being sent back to China, the Botswanan newspaper said.
Chinese Traders Threatened
In 2006 and 2007, France proceeded to designate a series of sensitive areas and to rearrange them into 164 settlements, resulting in some settlements no longer meeting the threshold level of 10,000 residents at which the directive applies.
FINAL WARNING FOR FRANCE
Shortly thereafter, the steam flow began to fluidize and rearrange the beads in the vicinity of the tooling vent.
Filling the void in lost foam patterns: eliminating the steam flow entirely in thin sections (less than 7 mm) of polystyrene patterns stops void formation and reduces the scrap produced by lost foam metalcasting
She feeds them sweet nectar.//Angels, pictured as both male and female, engage in neither/photosynthesis nor heterotrophic acts, and reproduce asexually.//There is no magnetic that at the distance of the moon/its attractive power would rearrange the molecules in our bodies.//Archaeologists believe that certain delicate phials/found in Roman ruins were meant to hold tears.
Some Church
Ruby forms during metamorphism, when heat and pressure underground rearrange the atoms that make up the minerals in a rock.
Rockin' gems: find out how your birthstone transforms from a diamond in the rough to a dazzling gem
Global pandemics threaten to rearrange our entire business.
Rebuilding the ordinary into the extraordinary
* Tendency to rearrange letters in words when writing or reading
Smart girls, bad grades: your teachers and parents want your grades to be higher. And you want your grades to be higher. So why aren't they? Find out here
When I open Explorer to rearrange files, the opening screen is so packed with information I barely can find what I need.
Customize the amount of data displayed in the Explorer screen
Rearrange these letters and find the related word: SNOOP a) Town, b) Jacket, c) Bird, d) Fork 5.
The Box: Ten teasers to get your brain into gear