hell or high water
3
8.4
- idiom
- Informal
:
pase lo que pase
- So come hell or high water, the vote will happen this week.
- come hell or high water
So come hell or high water, the vote will happen this week.
- So come hell or high water, the vote will happen this week.
- If they know you are going to get them to that value come hell or high water, they will take the risk.
- What I respect about that is that he believes something and he's, you know, he's, he's willing to stand by it come hell or high water.
- But hey, you know, come hell or high water, the goofs, they come, the booths, they come quicker.
Examples
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Come hell or high water, we will meet our deadline for the project.
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The third thing is that this month, come hell or high water, I am going to get the Aristotle categories on demand.
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We're going to do our best tomorrow, come hell or high water, and people will watch it.
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I am gonna make this work, come hell or high water.
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I am going to get that man come hell or high water.
Fiction book (1995) -
Come hell or high water, be at the bank in Childress on Thursday.
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But come hell or high water, that's where you're gonna go!
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Come hell or high water, it was time to find out if I could have a few extra days (or even hours would have helped) to make this project the right way it should be.
Blog text (3) -
Rest assured, ladies and gentlemen, this reporter will uncover those intentions, come hell or high water.
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Come hell or high water, Redondo Beach's long-neglected King Harbor will get a fancy new boutique hotel.
Blog text (1)
Synonyms
94
3.2
A phrase that says something will happen despite problems
23
4.1
Willing to do anything to get something, even if it is dangerous or expensive
5
8.3
No matter what happens or how difficult it is
5
6.3
No matter what happens
4
6.7
A situation when you must succeed because failure is not allowed
Antonyms
How Determined
62
3.7
101
5.2
- Informal
3
8.4
- Literature
5
6.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal meanings of 'hell', 'high' and 'water' do not compose to express determination to do something regardless of obstacles; the phrase is a fixed idiom whose overall sense is figurative rather than a straightforward combination of its parts. A B1 learner who knows the individual words would be unlikely to infer the idiomatic meaning without prior exposure, so it is unpredictable and language-specific.
Etymology
Hell or high water may come from a strong image of the worst dangers: hell (fire) or high water (a flood). People put these two images together to promise they would do something 'no matter what'. So, the phrase now means 'no matter what' or 'in spite of difficulties'.