Word.ws English Dictionary

it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings proverb: there are more developments yet to come; one should not presume to know the outcome of an event which is still in progress.

Proverb

it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

  1. There are more developments yet to come; one should not presume to know the outcome of an event which is still in progress.

Synonyms of it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

Forms of it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

alternative formit ain't over till the fat lady sings
alternative formit ain't over until the fat lady sings
alternative formit isn't over 'til the fat lady sings
alternative formit isn't over till the fat lady sings
alternative formit isn't over until the fat lady sings
alternative formit's not over 'til the fat lady sings
alternative formit's not over till the fat lady sings
alternative formit's not over until the fat lady sings

Origin of it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

First appeared in 1976 in a Dallas Morning News article dated March 10, 1976. Popularized by sports coach Dick Motta in 1978. Generally understood to be in reference to opera sopranos, who were typically heavyset.

Questions about it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

What does it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings mean?
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings means there are more developments yet to come; one should not presume to know the outcome of an event which is still in progress.
What part of speech is it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings?
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings is a proverb.

Words near it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings in the dictionary

  1. ISX
  2. Isy
  3. ISYN
  4. Isère
  5. it
  6. it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings
  7. it ain't over till it's over
  8. it ain't over till the fat lady sings
  9. it ain't over until the fat lady sings
  10. it ain't the meat, it's the motion
  11. it ain't the whistle that pulls the train

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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