no way

See also: noway

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adverb

no way (not comparable)

1. (now archaic or regional) in no way; not at all [from 15th c.]
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     I suppose that meanes meerely humane can no way be capable of it […].

   • 2007, Ron Liebman, Death by Rodrigo, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 133:

     I get it. No way can me and Mickie talk to Rodrigo about what just happened up at the bench he's standing in the big holding cell, other mopes standing around waiting for their cases to be called, eavesdropping on what we're telling him.

Interjection

no way

1. (idiomatic) Absolutely not; under no circumstances. [from 18th c.]

   Touch that weird rock over there, I dare you! —No way!

2. (idiomatic) Indicates astonished disbelief.

   You failed your exam again? No way!

   He's hitting 400 for two months? Uh-uh! No way!

Alternative forms

• (South Africa) no ways

Synonyms

• no
• (absolutely not): no chance, fat chance, not a chance, not on your life, by no means, no fear, chance'd be a fine thing (UK)
• (indication of disbelief): unbelievable, no kidding, what the fuck, what the

Coordinate terms

• yes way

Derived terms

• no way Jose

Related terms

• no dice

Translations

absolutely not

• Burmese: ဟင့်အင်း (my) (hang.ang:)
• Catalan: de cap manera
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 死都唔會／死都唔会 (sei² dou¹ m⁴ wui⁵), 點都唔會／点都唔会 (dim² dou¹ m⁴ wui⁵), 唔肯 (m⁴ hang²)

  Hokkien: no捽 (nó͘-sut), 袂癮／袂瘾 (bōe-giàn)

  Mandarin: 休想 (zh) (xiūxiǎng), 沒門(兒)／没门(儿) (zh) (méimén[r]), 絕不會／绝不会 (jué bùhuì), 絕對不會／绝对不会 (juéduì bùhuì), 一定不會／一定不会 (yīdìng bùhuì), 門都沒有／门都没有 (mén dōu méiyǒu)

• Danish: aldrig i livet (da)
• Dutch: echt niet, no way
• Finnish: ei käy, ei ikinä, ei ikimaailmassa, ei ikipäivänä
• French: en aucune façon (fr), pas question (fr), jamais de la vie (fr), pas moyen (fr), hors de question (fr)
• Galician: non tal
• Georgian: არ არსებობს (ar arsebobs), არავითარ შემთხვევაში (aravitar šemtxvevaši), არანაირად (aranairad)
• German: auf keinen Fall (de), keineswegs (de), nie im Leben, nichts da, nix da
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: οὐδαμῶς (oudamôs), πώμαλα (pṓmala)

• Hebrew: בְּשׁוּם אוֹפֶן (b'shum ofen)
• Hungarian: semmiképp sem, semmiképpen sem, semmi esetre sem, eszem ágában sincs
• Italian: neanche per sogno
• Japanese: 嫌だ (ja) (iya da), 無理だ (ja) (muri da), 有り得ない (ありえない, arienai), 不可能だ (ja) (ふかのうだ, fukanō da), うそ (ja) (uso)
• Kapampangan: emalyari, aru, epwedi
• Maori: auare ake, nō(w)hea
• Persian: نه بابا (na bâbâ)
• Polish: nie ma mowy (pl)
• Portuguese: de nenhuma maneira, nem pensar, de jeito nenhum (pt), nada feito
• Romanian: nicicum (ro), nicidecum (ro)
• Russian: ни за что́ (ru) (ni za štó)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: нема шансе, низашто, заборави, ни у којем случају, неће ићи, ма какви

  Roman: nema šanse, nizašto (sh), zaboravi, ni u kojem slučaju, neće ići, ma kakvi

• Spanish: de ninguna manera, qué va (es), ni hablar (es)
• Swedish: nähä (sv)
• Thai: ไม่มีทาง
• Turkish: asla (tr), katiyen (tr), olmaz (tr)

indicates astonished disbelief

• Catalan: impossible (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不會吧！／不会吧！ (bù huì ba!), 不可能！ (bù kěnéng!), 怎麼會呢？／怎么会呢？ (zěnme huì ne?)

• Dutch: no way
• Finnish: ei voi olla totta, älä viitsi
• French: pas possible (fr), pas vrai (fr)
• Galician: vaiche boa
• Georgian: შეუძლებელია (šeuʒlebelia), წარმოუდგენელია (c̣armoudgenelia), ნუთუ (nutu), არ არსებობს (ar arsebobs)
• German: fantastisch (de), unglaublich (de)
• Greek: με τίποτα (me típota)
• Hebrew: לא יכול להיות (lo yakhol lihiot), בְּשׁוּם אוֹפֶן (b'shum ofen)
• Hungarian: nem létezik, ne már, nem mondod
• Japanese: 有り得ない (ありえない, arienai), とんでもない (ja) (tondemonai), まさか (ja) (masaka)
• Kapampangan: emalyari, aru, imposibli
• Maori: e hawa, nō(w)hea hoki!, weta
• Polish: nie może być, niemożliwe
• Portuguese: impossível (pt), nem sonhando
• Russian: не мо́жет быть (ne móžet bytʹ), да ты что (da ty što)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: не може бити, немогуће

  Roman: ne može biti, nemoguće

• Spanish: no me digas (es)
• Swedish: nähä (sv)
• Turkish: yok artık, daha neler, hadi canım, haydi oradan, git işine

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} assolutamente no
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} asla (tr), ^{(please verify)} hiçbir şekilde

Noun

no way (uncountable)

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see no,‎ way.; not any possibility.

   There is no way that I would trust him.

   • 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:

     Miranda: I'll admit it, Shepard. I'm impressed. You got us here. Are you ready?
     Shepard: We're going in blind, and we don't even know if we'll survive the trip. No way in hell we're ready... but we don't have a choice.

Alternative forms

• (South Africa) no ways

See also

• way out

Further reading

• Jonathon Green (2024) “no way!”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang