push shit uphill
Sisyphean waste effort
To push shit uphill is to struggle futilely against impossible odds or resistant circumstances.
The image is vivid: an unpleasant task made worse by working against gravity.
Australian and British slang, often intensified: It's like pushing shit uphill with a pointy stick.
The phrase suggests wasted effort on something bound to fail or slide back down.
- SisypheanEndlessly, pointlessly laborious
- impossibleIncapable of occurring
- unachievableCannot be accomplished
- futileIncapable of producing results
- spinning wheelsFiber-twisting textile devices
flogging a dead horse · spinning your wheels · going nowhere fast · pointless · tilting at windmills · quixotic · herding cats · impractical · absurd · hopeless · slog · uphill battle · chasing rainbows · unattainable · barking up the wrong tree · fool's errand · painstaking · frustrating
push shit uphillmake progress
Move toward completion
make headway · bear fruit · meaningful work · move the needle · make hay
push shit uphilleasy as pie
Extremely simple to accomplish
a walk in the park · child's play · like falling off a log · plain sailing · a breeze
push, pushed, pushing, pusher, pushes, shit, shits, shitting, shitty