hope against hope
Stubbornly remain optimistic
To hope against hope is to maintain hope despite overwhelming odds or evidence that the desired outcome is impossible.
The phrase intensifies ordinary hoping—you hope even when hope itself seems unreasonable: She hoped against hope that the missing hikers would be found alive.
The expression suggests desperation rather than delusion, clinging to possibility when logic says to abandon it.
- againstIn opposition to
- clingHold tightly to
- gripSecure manual hold
- holding onMaintaining one's grip
- waitDelay until later
faith · blind faith · leap of faith · ember · perseverance · flicker · desperate · wishful · wishful thinking · pipe dream · yearning · dawn · silver lining · vigil · count on · prayer · fingers crossed · forlorn
hope against hoperesign oneself
Accept the unavoidable
despair · abandon hope · face facts · throw in the towel · capitulate
hope against hopedespair
Total absence of hope
give up · lose heart · abandon all hope · throw up one's hands · cave in
hope against hopedespair
Total absence of hope
give up · abandon hope · hopelessness · defeatism · surrender
hope, hopes, hoped, hoping, hopeful, hopefully, hopefulness, hopeless, hopelessly