dog's chance
- idiom
- /dɔɡz tʃæns/
- UK
:
pocas posibilidades
- Given the strict rules, he knew he had a dog's chance of getting the permit.
Examples
-
I know they won't have a dog's chance... ...not here, not in the whole stinking world!
-
With a storm approaching, the hikers had a dog's chance of reaching the summit safely.
-
And they had a dog's chance of getting out.
Fiction book (2001) -
The team's repeated errors meant they had only a dog's chance of winning the match.
Synonyms
58
4.6
An unlikely attempt that is still worth trying
10
3.4
A very small possibility that something will happen
Antonyms
How Likely
Surface Forms
Morphology
dog's + chance
The meaning 'a very slim or nonexistent possibility' is not directly derivable from the constituents 'dog' (an animal) and 'chance' (likelihood); the possessive animal element is idiomatic and conveys contempt or smallness rather than a literal ownership. Animal-based possessive idioms like this are language-specific and unpredictable, so a B1 learner who only knows the component words would probably not infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Dog's chance may come from the image of a dog with almost no chance to survive a fight or a hard situation, like a hungry or alone animal facing stronger opponents. So, dog's chance now means 'very little or no chance' of success.