the primrose path

the primrose path

A life of pleasure and leisure that results in a negative or detrimental outcome. Usually used in the phrase "lead (one) down the primrose path." After winning the lottery, Jake found himself surrounded by people trying to lead him down the primrose path for their own benefit.
See also: path, primrose
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

primrose path

Fig. earthly delights that come to an end. She led him down the primrose path until she got tired of him.
See also: path, primrose
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

the primrose path

the pursuit of pleasure, especially when it is seen to bring disastrous consequences.
The allusion here is to ‘the primrose path of dalliance’ to which Ophelia refers in Hamlet.
See also: path, primrose
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

the primrose ˈpath (to ruin, destruction, etc.)

(literary) an easy life that is full of pleasure but that causes you harm in the end: If we followed your advice we’d all be walking down the primrose path to ruin.This phrase comes from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.
See also: path, primrose
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

primrose path, the

The way of easy self-indulgence. Shakespeare used this term in two ways—as a path of pleasure (“the primrose path of dalliance,” Hamlet, 1.3) and as an easy but dangerous course of action (“the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire,” Macbeth, 2.1). The former meaning survives in the current cliché. See also garden path.
See also: primrose
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • primrose
  • primrose path
  • primrose path, the
  • (one's) best foot forward
  • a recipe for disaster
  • (as) sure as eggs (is eggs)
  • 57
  • a penny for them
  • enough rope, give someone
  • Give enough rope and he'll hang himself
References in periodicals archive
The Wales-based author first made waves in 2016 with her debut novel, The Primrose Path. It was praised for having shades of Daphne du Maurier, and Griffiths was hailed as a future star of the domestic noir genre.
A dark and pacy thriller; The second novel from Wales-based author Rebecca Griffiths, A Place to Lie, is tense, intriguing and full of satisfying twists, writes Jenny White... AUTHOR'S NOTES
Indeed if we were to dig deep down on what did them all in, we could really conclude that it was when corporations and their executives began to sashay around values and play around the semantics of right and wrong that they began to slide down the primrose path to perdition.
Of Codes of Conduct
As well as entertaining it is thought provoking and causes the reader to reflect on the primrose path that humanity is apparently pursuing at exponential speed.
"Brownout - 666 or the Real Meaning of the Swastika" Novel States That "Coming Disaster is Almost a Matter of Logic" and Ponders the Question, "Where is Humanity Headed?"
In 1875 he would publish his first novel, "The Primrose Path," and would continue publishing various novels while working as manager for the theatre.
Today in History - Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, is born
Inspirational stories can lead you down the primrose path when you read or hear about a clothing sales rep turned management consultant, a jazz musician who became an electrical engineer, or an accountant who hit the jackpot creating video games.
Career change crashes
He said "we are open, and what President Obama has said is we are open not to being duped, not to being tricked and not to being led down the primrose path, but open to setting up a verifiable, clear process by which everybody - Israel, our friends in the region, we particularly, the international community, our allies, the P5 plus 1 - can all make clear determinations about what Iran is doing in terms of its nuclear program, and that it is going to live up to the highest international standards." That is the beginning of the way in which you change the relationship, "and that is where we have all decided, Iran included, that they are prepared to try to make steps in order to change this relationship," Kerry said.
Verification key to accord with Iran - Kerry
ATC is happy to walk you down the primrose path to disaster.
It's time for GPS: GA happily adopted GPS approaches long ago because they are easier and more common. It's time airlines and big city ATC get the message
And so, introduced through his work to Wilde, Conan Doyle and WB Yeats, he was inspired to write such epics as The Primrose Path, the tragic tale of a drunkard's downfall, and The Shoulder of Shasta, a romance set in California.
Bram's Dracula will live forever
Itmaybe I know there are some people who will witter on that middle-aged men in shorts and rubber footwear look a fright, but frankly damn them and at the risk of stooping to the ad hominem damn their womento their breasts public, for natural act breastfeeding, revealing public for natural act urination is opinions, for they just lead one down the primrose path of world weariness.
The tribute vice pays to virtue? DAVID KILVINGTON writes a new column for WoS
Of course, if Davina's kids follow her down the primrose path to heroin hell, she's got the money to bung them into expensive rehab clinics.
A double Wham-y
He offers a frank and realistic assessment of the shrinking opportunities and real hardships that must be faced by any young person with serious pianistic ambitions,Nor does he pull any punches in critiquing the tendency of universities and conservatories, as well as many private teachers of advanced students, to lead students down the primrose path of expectation, preparing them for careers which, frankly, do not exist anymore in today's world.
A Pianist's Dictionary: Reflections on a Life
Ms Jenkins said she was worried how people might react to the drugs admission, but I think she can rest assured: we're all just thankful she didn't stray as far down the primrose path as the seemingly tragic (and equally talented) Amy Winehouse, with whose voice Duffy's has sometimes been compared.
Duffy lights the way over a burning issue
We were sandbagged on the primrose path of curiosity with a verbal timing that would do credit to Richard Pryor.
Norman Mailer: ambush at the center
Somewhere along the primrose path of accountability, public service has been fooled into thinking it is the same as manufacturing industry.
AGENDA: There is no place for inspectors in our schools
Illegal domestic spying, lying the country into a disastrous war, punishing dissenters such as Ambassador Joseph Wilson, and election fraud are only a few of the Bush administration actions that are leading the people of the United States down the primrose path to dictatorship, believe Cohen (editor in chief, International Journal of Applied Physiology) and Fraser (founder and president, Americans for Moral Government, "a political action committee devoted to the preservation and promotion of democratic values").
The last days of democracy; how big media and power-hungry government are turning America into a dictatorship