Meanings
- derogatoryexcessiveidiomaticinformalvulgarAlmost no chance at all of an occurrence or success.
That small boat has a snowball's chance in hell of surviving the hurricane.
1 more example
Trudeau, who this week said there was not “a snowball’s chance in hell” that Canada would become part of the US, reiterated to CNN that Ottawa would impose countermeasures if Trump made good on this threat.
2025 January 9, Justin Trudeau, quotee, “Trudeau: Trump threatened to annex Canada to distract from tariffs impact”, in The Guardian, sourced from Reuters, →ISSNSynonyms: snowball's chance, snowball's chance in an oven
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAlmost no chance at all of an occurrence or success.
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 希望渺茫
- 希望渺茫 (xīwàng)little or no likelihood of occurrence or success
Italian alle calende greche, quando gli asini voleranno
- alle calende grechelittle or no likelihood of occurrence or success
- quando gli asini volerannolittle or no likelihood of occurrence or success
- mailittle or no likelihood of occurrence or success
Swedish när helvetet fryser till is
- när helvetet fryser till islittle or no likelihood of occurrence or success
Cite this entry
snowball's chance in hell. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snowball's%20chance%20in%20hell
“snowball's chance in hell.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snowball's%20chance%20in%20hell. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “snowball's chance in hell,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snowball's%20chance%20in%20hell.
Source: snowball's chance in hell on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.