hope against hope

English

Etymology

Likely a paraphrase of the first few words of Romans 4:18.^[1]

Pronunciation

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Verb

hope against hope (third-person singular simple present hopes against hope, present participle hoping against hope, simple past and past participle hoped against hope)

1. (idiomatic) To continue to hope, even when what is hoped for seems unlikely or impossible.

Translations

to keep hoping even when the odds are against

Italian: sperare nell'impossibile Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: у̏залӯдно се на́дати Roman: ȕzalūdno se nádati

References

1. The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, Romans 4:18: “Who against hope, beleeued in hope, that hee might become the father of many nations: according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seede bee.”