fat chance

Idioms and Phrases

Very little or no possibility, as in A fact chance he has of coming in first , or You think they'll get married? Fat chance! A related expression is a fat lot , meaning “very little or none at all,” as in A fat lot of good it will do her . The first of these slangy sarcastic usages dates from the early 1900s, the second from the 1890s.

Example Sentences

Brooks: Here comes Peter, folks, the well-known director of Busting and Fat Chance, hopping down the bunny trail.

From The Daily Beast

Fat chance that would get through this, or perhaps any, Congress.

From The Daily Beast

To his subjects like Lauder, who joked that he hoped “he manipulates the lines out of my face,” Samaras responds “fat chance.”

From The Daily Beast

Why does a fat chance and a slim chance mean the same thing?

From The Daily Beast

Just my luck to miss a nice fat chance like that—the beggar was never caught, he seemed to vanish into thin air.

From Project Gutenberg

“Fat chance we have of winning now,” Dan said as the final event of the meet was called.

From Project Gutenberg

You had a fat chance of talking the old Major out of anything!

From Project Gutenberg

And he doesn't tell me anything except that we stand a fat chance of losing everything.

From Project Gutenberg

“Fat chance of digging up a live Indian in Webster City,” he scoffed.

From Project Gutenberg