dying gasp of hope
- noun
- Informal
:
último suspiro de esperanza
- In the face of overwhelming odds, her speech was a dying gasp of hope for her struggling team.
Examples
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The community's petition felt like a dying gasp of hope as the deadline approached.
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In her dying gasp of hope, she prayed for a miracle.
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His last attempt at reconciliation was a dying gasp of hope before resigning to loneliness.
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His last words were a dying gasp of hope.
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In the final moments of the match, the team's last goal was a dying gasp of hope that rallied the fans.
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Her heartfelt letter to the board was a dying gasp of hope for change in the organization.
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The last few words of the speech were meant to be a dying gasp of hope for the future of the project.
Synonyms
7
6.3
A final effort before something ends or fails
1
4.1
A small, brief feeling that things may get better
How Hopeful
209
2.8
∞
1.0
1
4.1
- Informal
28
4.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'dying' (fading/coming to an end) modifies 'gasp' (a final breath or small, sudden expression), and 'of hope' specifies the content, yielding a last, fading expression of hope. This metaphorical but transparent combination follows common cross‑linguistic patterns (e.g., 'last breath of hope'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase dying gasp of hope comes from the image of a person taking a last, weak breath: a dying gasp is the final breath before death. So a dying gasp of hope means a last, desperate show of hope, a final try before 'giving up'.