English Reference

Idiom

push water uphill

Meaning

To try to achieve a goal despite huge resistance or nearly futile awkwardness, the task being an uphill battle.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Examples

“Trying to change his mind is like pushing water uphill.”

“The manager knew that convincing the board to approve the expensive project was like pushing water uphill.”

“Attempting to reform the deeply entrenched bureaucracy without any support from the leadership felt like pushing water uphill.”

Examples

simple

“Trying to change his mind is like pushing water uphill.”

contextual

“The manager knew that convincing the board to approve the expensive project was like pushing water uphill.”

complex

“Attempting to reform the deeply entrenched bureaucracy without any support from the leadership felt like pushing water uphill.”

Key words

Related idioms

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English Reference