Etymology Journal ยท A
A snowball's chance in hell
Meaning
- Having absolutely no chance of succeeding. It emphasizes that the odds of survival or success are essentially zero.
Definitive, blunt
Used in a sentence
- He has a snowball's chance in hell of passing that test without studying.
- We have a snowball's chance in hell of finishing this project by tonight.
- With those old tires, the car has a snowball's chance in hell of making it over the pass.
The backstory
The imagery is quite vivid, referring to a snowball melting instantly if it were brought into a fiery hell. It is an American idiom that gained traction in the mid-19th century.
Heard in
Nationwide
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