Fight an Uphill Battle

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🗓️ Idiom: Fighting an Uphill Battle

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💬 Meaning

• To be in a difficult situation where success is unlikely or requires a lot of effort.
• To struggle against significant challenges or resistance, often with little support or progress.

🧠 Example Sentences

• The finance team is fighting an uphill battle trying to reduce costs without sacrificing quality.
• Startups often fight an uphill battle when competing with large, established companies.
• He’s fighting an uphill battle to convince investors that the project is still viable.

🏛️ Origin

This idiom originates from military strategy, where attacking uphill is harder due to gravity and the defensive advantage of higher ground. It now refers to any difficult effort where little or no progress can be made.

📝 Practice Exercises

1. Fill in the blank:

Without public support, the organization was __________ trying to implement the new policy.

Answer

fighting an uphill battle

2. Choose the correct meaning of “fighting an uphill battle”:

A) Working on a project with guaranteed success
B) Making progress easily
C) Struggling against difficult odds

Answer

C) Struggling against difficult odds

3. Rewrite the sentence using the idiom:

“The team was struggling to get approval for the budget changes.” → Change the sentence using: fighting an uphill battle

Answer

The team was fighting an uphill battle to get approval for the budget changes.

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ℹ️ Other Useful Pages

👉 Finance and Accounting Idioms
👉 Business English Idioms List
👉 Student Space
👉 Tutor Toolkit

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