not a ghost of a chance
ghost of a chance
A slight but unlikely possibility. After I heard that a Harvard graduate applied for the same job I did, I knew that I didn't have a ghost of a chance of getting hired. Even though he knows he only has a ghost of a chance of winning the lottery, he still buys tickets every week.
See also: chance, ghost, of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
ghost of a chance
even the slightest chance. (Usually negative.) She can't do it. She doesn't have a ghost of a chance. There is just a ghost of a chance that I'll be there on time.
See also: chance, ghost, of
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
not a ghost of a chance
Not the least likelihood. This term, which uses ghost in the sense of an insubstantial shadow, dates from the nineteenth century. In print it appeared in Thomas Hughes’s Tom Brown’s School Days (1857): “Williams hadn’t the ghost of a chance with Tom at wrestling.” See also not a hope in hell; Chinaman's chance.
See also: chance, ghost, not, of
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- ghost of a chance
- not have a ghost of a chance
- not have a/the ghost of a chance
- not have the ghost of a chance
- on the off chance
- on the outside chance
- off chance
- outside chance
- on the off chance (that) (something happens)
- on the off-chance