outside chance - idiom meaning?

Question

What is the meaning of "outside chance" idiom?

Answer 1

 

outside chance - Examples:

1)  The only glimmer of hope lay within the outside chance that the city of Glendale refuses this agreement and lets the team go
2)  I  have chosen to hold stocks on the outside chance that Bernanke could somehow drive the price higher.
3)  It was still disappointing considering that Rendon entered the season with an outside chance of reaching the major leagues.
4)  To that end, perhaps there is an outside chance that Romney's lead and assumptive nomination is irrelevant.
5)  I googled Joy of Cooking brownie recipe on the outside chance I might come up with it.
6)  I always thought we had an outside chance of taking back the majority.
7)  There's always going to be outside chance of something going wrong.
8)  Nevertheless, the analysts predicted that there was only an outside chance that the military would move to force Allende from office.
9)  Nevertheless, the analysts predicted that there was only an outside chance that the military would move to force Allende from office.
10)  I give Melissa an outside chance if the rest of her collection manages to wow them.
11)  We are stocking up on guns and ammo in Texas -- on the outside chance Perry decides to defend our border.
12)  There is even an outside chance that this unexpected effect is brought about by a previously unknown particle emitted by the quark.
13)  There is also the outside chance that they would limit the power of lobbying groups like the NRA.
14)  She could choose to go, and maybe have an outside chance of getting her life together.
15)  The team had an outside chance this year.
16)  If this rate of progress continues and nothing goes wrong, there is an outside chance of gathering sufficient data by then and analysing it fairly quickly.
17)  I thought there might be an outside chance that Katy carries the gene for the syndrome.
18)  You go from an outside chance to a maybe, or from a maybe to a purchase.
19)  Of course there is always the outside chance that an ancient Mayan God won't descend to Earth to wipe us out.
20)  An average man has just one, outside chance: he had better be able to make the lady laugh.
 
 
 

Answer 2

outside chance - Gerund Form:

Having an outside chance is better than having no chance at all.
 

Answer 3

outside chance - Usage:

 
formal<---------------|--X------------->informal
 

Answer 4

Idiom Scenario 2:

Two production supervisors are talking ...

Supervisor 1:  How are you doing with getting that order ready for shipping it on Monday?
Supervisor 2:  We've been having some problems with the machines so production is behind.
Supervisor 1:  Will the order be ready?
Supervisor 2:  If we put on an extra shift and nothing goes wrong, we have an outside chance.

Answer 5

Idiom Scenario 1:

Two students are talking ...

Student 1: Do you think you'll pass the final exam?
Student 2:  Well, I did go to most of the classes but I didn't really study.
Student 1:  The professor said that most of the questions on the exam would not be from the class lectures.
Student 2:  Then I would say that I have an outside chance of passing the exam.

Answer 6

Idiom Definition:

"outside chance"

a very small or remote possibility

 
Synonyms: bare possibility, chance, conceivability, conceivableness, contingency, dark horse, even chance, eventuality, fighting chance, gambling chance, good chance, good possibility, hardly a chance, hope, hundred-to-one shot, improbability, likelihood, little chance, little opportunity, long odds, long shot, off chance, outside hope, poor bet, poor lookout, poor possibility, poor prospect, possibility, possibleness, potential, potentiality, probability, prospect, remote possibility, slim chance, small chance, small hope, the attainable, the feasible, the possible, thinkability, thinkableness, unlikelihood, virtuality, what is possible, what may be, what might be