Meaning
An extremely long or seemingly endless period, usually in negative statements about likelihood. Informal hyperbole. In a negative construction it can mean either 'for a very long time' or 'never in any realistic circumstances.' Regional use: General English, especially informal British and Commonwealth use.
Origin
The expression is recorded in 1759. Taken literally, a month's worth of Sundays would require many ordinary weeks to accumulate; the phrase turns that stretched calendar into comic exaggeration. Later negative forms, such as saying something will not happen in a month of Sundays, intensify the sense of remoteness or impossibility.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Not in a month of Sundays
Usage Examples
- It will take a month of Sundays to catalogue every box in that attic.
- I have not seen a queue that long in a month of Sundays.
- He will not admit the figures were wrong in a month of Sundays.