hope against hope
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
That is why we put forward our amendment and hope against all hope that Labour may see the light and vote with us on our amendment.
Somehow she'd still hoped against hope that Ace might have come to her after all.
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.
Common questions
What does “hope against hope” mean?
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Is “hope against hope” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.