losing battle
Fight without hope
A losing battle is a struggle that cannot be won despite continued effort.
The phrase acknowledges that someone keeps fighting even though defeat seems inevitable: Trying to keep the house clean with three toddlers is a losing battle.
Often used for futile resistance against larger forces—aging, bureaucracy, social change: He fought a losing battle against the disease for years.
- defeatVictory over another
- struggleLabored effort against resistance
- futileIncapable of producing results
- hopelessBeyond possibility of success
- uphillToward higher elevation
against all odds · surrender · white flag · retreat · inevitable · exhaustion · resistance · overwhelmed · outmatched · doomed · sinking · desperate · fighting · vain · attrition · decline · fading · running out of time
- hardshipshardship, adversity, struggle, misfortune, difficulties
- futilityfutile, futility, in vain, pointlessness, vain
- giving upgive up, giving up, quit, quitting, surrender
- predicamentspredicament, dilemma, bind, pickle, pinch
losing battlesure thing
Guaranteed outcome or agreement
foregone conclusion · slam dunk · cakewalk · walkover · easy win
losing battleeasy win
Unchallenging victory
walkover · cakewalk · piece of cake · no-brainer · breeze
losing battlelevel playing field
Equal competitive conditions
equal footing · fighting chance · sporting chance · toss-up · coin flip
losing, battle, lose, lost, loser, loses, losses, battles, battled