never-never

[ nev-er-nev-er ]

adjective
  1. not real or true; imaginary or ideal; illusory: the never-never world of the cinema.

Origin of never-never

1
First recorded in 1880–85

Words Nearby never-never

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use never-never in a sentence

  • And this never-never tepid retread of a Bush-era policy is, incredibly, the only actual policy on offer.

    The Flapdoodle Campaign | Megan McArdle | October 23, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • So, 43 times, and never—never—has an opposition party tried to do anything like this.

    The Boehner Trap | Michael Tomasky | July 29, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • "Well, I never—never—" she exclaimed, as Isabel hastily marshalled her up the stair and into the house.

    Ancestors | Gertrude Atherton
  • He had said of her, "She is kind and pitiful; but she would never love me—a broken-spirited man—never—never."

    Katharine Frensham | Beatrice Harraden
  • Give me—your hand, Deirdre—never—never thought I'd reach you—but I couldn't die—there—in the dark—down by the creek.

    The Pioneers | Katharine Susannah Prichard
  • Doctor Gardiner may talk to you of love, but he will never—never speak to you of marriage.

    Jolly Sally Pendleton | Laura Jean Libbey
  • "I never meant to rob them—to rob any one, never—never—" His voice broke slightly on those words.

    Flamsted quarries | Mary E. Waller

British Dictionary definitions for never-never

never-never

/ informal /


noun
  1. the hire-purchase system of buying

  2. Australian remote desert country, as that of W Queensland and central Australia

adjective
  1. imaginary; idyllic (esp in the phrase never-never land)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012