come hell or high water
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
No matter what difficulties may occur.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
In the first district (A) all services provided by its own units were deemed to be " core " by the DGM and were to be supplied within the district " come hell or high water ".
If you're a Libran who just has to say what's on your mind come hell or high water you could be heading for a stormy time.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “come hell or high water” mean?
No matter what difficulties may occur.
Is “come hell or high water” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.