Word.ws English Dictionary

not have a prayer

not have a prayer verb: to have no chance or possibility, usually in the face of peril or adversity.

Verb

not have a prayer

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To have no chance or possibility, usually in the face of peril or adversity.
    • When the lights went dark in their flooded compartment, the submariners knew that they did not have a prayer.
    • It's all over, people! We don't have a prayer!1995, John Schwarzwelder, The Simpsons, season 6, episode 14 "Bart's Comet", spoken by Reverend Lovejoy (Harry Shearer)
    Synonyms:
    without a prayer

not have a prayer meaning in Malayalam

not have a prayer in Malayalam

have no hope, have no chance, stand no chance
ആശയ്ക്കു വകയില്ലാത്ത, പ്രതീക്ഷിക്കാനൊന്നുമില്ലാത്ത, നിരാശാജനകം, ഒരുപ്രതീക്ഷയുമില്ലാത്ത അവസ്ഥയിലായ, പ്രതീക്ഷയ്ക്കു വകയില്ലാത്ത, ആശയറ്റ അവസ്ഥയിലായ

Synonyms of not have a prayer

  • without a prayer

Origin of not have a prayer

Implies that not even divine intervention could save the person.

Questions about not have a prayer

What does not have a prayer mean?
Not have a prayer means to have no chance or possibility, usually in the face of peril or adversity.
What is not have a prayer in Malayalam?
Not have a prayer in Malayalam is ആശയ്ക്കു വകയില്ലാത്ത, പ്രതീക്ഷിക്കാനൊന്നുമില്ലാത്ത, നിരാശാജനകം. See Not have a prayer meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is not have a prayer?
Not have a prayer is a verb.

Words near not have a prayer in the dictionary

  1. not have a care in the world
  2. not have a clue
  3. not have a leg to stand on
  4. not have a pot to piss in
  5. not have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of
  6. not have a prayer
  7. not have both oars in the water
  8. not have the faintest
  9. not have the faintest idea
  10. not have the first idea
  11. not here for a haircut

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: not have a prayer (page history and authors); not have a prayer (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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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Cite this entry: “not have a prayer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/not_have_a_prayer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.