pie in the sky
A fanciful notion; an unrealistic or ludicrous concept; the illusory promise of a…A fanciful notion; an unrealistic or ludicrous concept; the illusory promise of a desired outcome that is unlikely to happen.
Meaning
1 senses(idiomatic, uncountable)A fanciful notion; an unrealistic or ludicrous concept; the illusory promise of a desired outcome that is unlikely to happen.
журавль в небеžuravlʹ v nebe, воздушный замокvozdušnyj zamok
Examples
8 sentencesIt's just pie in the sky.
Обіцянки — цяцянки. — deniko
Tim's employer promised him pie-in-the-sky benefits.
deTims Arbeitgeber hat ihm das Blaue vom Himmel versprochen. — BraveSentry
You'll get pie in the sky when you die.
You'll get pie in the sky when you die – that's a lie.
Work and pray, live on hay; you'll get pie in the sky when you die.
Translations
2 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
The phrase is originally from the song “The Preacher and the Slave” (1911) by Swedish-AmerThe phrase is originally from the song “The Preacher and the Slave” (1911) by Swedish-American labor activist and songwriter Joe Hill (1879–1915), which he wrote as a parody of the Salvation Army hymn “In the Sweet By-and-By” (published 1868). The song criticizes the Salvation Army for focusing on people’s salvation rather than on their material needs:
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Synonyms
5 synonymsWord family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.