0 something that seems to show that a successful period is beginning or that a situation is improving when it is not: --
1 a time in which something such as the economy seems to be getting better but in fact it is not: --
As with the dip in unemployment at that time, it was a false dawn.
It was, however, a false dawn because this month, after that announcement, the figure has again fallen blow complement.
That was a false dawn, because nothing could have been further from the truth.
We sometimes see a glimmer of hope, but then there is a false dawn.
That would not be the right path to follow; rather it would be something of a false dawn that would feed meaningless illusions.
We do not want a false dawn and 1 do not think that this is one.
In the early and middle 1960s there was a false dawn, in terms of economic planning.
I do not want to give false hopes of a false dawn.
