snowball's chance in hell

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

a snowball's chance in hell

1. (informal, hyperbolic, idiomatic) Almost no chance at all of an occurrence or success.

   That small boat has a snowball's chance in hell of surviving the hurricane.

Usage notes

• Often, the expression is used in the negative for even more emphasis (implying that the referent has even less chance of success than a snowball in hell because the heat would melt it near-immediately).

That small boat doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of surviving the hurricane.

Translations

Little or no likelihood of occurrence or success

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 希望 (zh) (xīwàng)渺茫 (zh) (miǎománg)

• Georgian: არავითარი შანსი (aravitari šansi), არანაირი შანსი (aranairi šansi)
• Italian: alle calende greche, quando gli asini voleranno, mai (it)
• Swedish: när helvetet fryser till is (sv)

See also

• a cat in hell's chance
• a cold day in Hell
• a snowflake's chance in hell
• snowball's chance in heck
• Chinaman's chance
• Chinaman's chance in hell
• first of never
• when Hell freezes over
• when pigs fly