pie in the sky

noun

pie¹ (def 8).

Origin

1910-15, Americanism

Examples from the web for pie in the sky

The launderers got our dough and walked on top of the eco frenzy that was fostered on pie in the sky idealism and green chatter.
They are pie in the sky and will always crash the mission.
pie in the sky promises could spell investment fraud.

pie in the sky in Culture

pie in the sky definition

A preposterously optimistic goal: “The candidate says we can balance the budget by next year, but I think that's pie in the sky.”

Slang definitions & phrases for pie in the sky

pie in the sky

modifier

: It was a bit of a pie-in-the-sky idea

noun phrase

The reward one will get for compliant behavior, later; hence wishful thinking or utopian fantasies

[1911+; fr a Wobbly expression of contempt for those who maintained that suffering and penury on earth would be compensated by bliss and luxury in heaven; the locus classicus is a 1911 parody of the hymn ''In the Sweet By and By,'' by the Wobbly martyr Joe Hill]

Idioms and Phrases with pie in the sky

pie in the sky

An empty wish or promise, as in His dream of being hired as a sports editor proved to be pie in the sky. This expression was first recorded in 1911 in a rallying song of a union, the International Workers of the World (or “Wobblies”): “Work and pray, live on hay, you'll get pie in the sky when you die.”