push water uphill
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.36 in modern English
28
Scrabble Score
15
Letters
2
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To try to achieve a goal despite huge resistance or nearly futile awkwardness, the task being an uphill battle.
Example Sentences
- "A Salesman Unaided by the House is Pushing Water Uphill."
- "Without that commitment you will be pushing water uphill the whole time and will lose your own, necessary motivation."
- "Persuading Kenny that measuring his calves did not require removal of his underpants and trousers was akin to pushing water uphill. He claimed that he couldn't tell what I was saying, which seemed strange as he had no problem deciphering the initial message."
- "Our relationship with Donovan Leisure was doing well, in truth because Rod Hills and I worked so hard on it, but often it felt like pushing water uphill."
- "And they have another drink, and they try to talk about something else, they really do, but it's like pushing water uphill: it won't work, and it's exhausting."
Inflected Forms
pushes water uphill (present, singular)
pushing water uphill (participle, present)
pushed water uphill (participle, past)
pushed water uphill (past)
push water uphill with a rake (alternative)
push water uphill with a fork (alternative)