in a million years
38
4.3
- idiom
- Informal
- I never thought in a million years she would say yes.
- never in a million years
- not in a million years
- ever in a million years
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Watch on YouTubeI'm not in a million years playing a monkey.
- I'm not in a million years playing a monkey.
- I I, I would never own this car in a million years, but I love it.
- I would say that I never in a million years would have seen that coming.
- So I would never ever in a million years have an affair.
- Well, the spare keys, even though he drives a humongous truck that I could never drive in a million years, so that's really pointless.
- I would have never in a million years imagined that this would be my life.
- And I actually spoke to somebody who's a very famous actor and you'd never think in a million years that they have that fear.
- And when she untie the dinghy to move it away from the boat, which she would have never done in a million years.
- I would never in a million years opt to play that one out just to make you feel good about yourself.
- You would have never in a million years seen a brand on Sephora post untouched photos of someone's skin with acne.
- Never in a million years could I have dreamed of the company that exists now being the same one that we were thinking about.
- And, you know, I've interacted with celebs and that that I would never meet in a million years.
- I never in a million years dreamed that their campaign would put the Titanic song at his rally.
Examples
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And I'll tell you what, I never in a million years thought that I would have gone for Sophie.
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Nobody will believe this in a million years.
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But I never in a million years thought it, not once.
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I would say that I never in a million years would have seen that coming.
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I would never consider working there in a million years.
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And you could never in a million years guess the reason.
Fiction book (1990) -
Never in a million years would I lead you to believe such a thing.
Fiction book (1996) -
I would have never in a million years imagined that this would be my life.
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Never in a million years could I have dreamed of the company that exists now being the same one that we were thinking about.
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I would never want to go there in a million years.
Synonyms
8
6.1
Far more than someone could ever imagine
People say this to show that something will not happen
Antonyms
How Likely
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally places an action 'in a million years', so knowing 'in', 'million' and 'years' allows a learner to infer an extremely long time and thus strong improbability through hyperbole. However, its pragmatic force as an emphatic 'never' or absolute refusal is a conventionalized, idiomatic use that goes beyond straightforward composition, so it is only partially predictable.
Etymology
The idiom in a million years paints a picture of a very long wait, like waiting a million years for something to happen. So people use it to mean 'never' or 'extremely unlikely'.