"no dice" meaning in All languages combined

See no dice on Wiktionary

Phrase [English]

Audio: En-au-no dice.ogg [Australia]
enPR: nō dīs Etymology: A term used in the game craps when the dice land off the table, invalidating the throw. Head templates: {{en-head|phr}} no dice
  1. (idiomatic) An unacceptable alternative. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-no_dice-en-phrase-NIWCOJ6k
  2. (idiomatic) An unfavorable result. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-no_dice-en-phrase-g1otj9wh Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 4 70 26 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 2 81 17 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 2 85 13
  3. (informal) Used to express a negative outcome or decision. Tags: informal Related terms: no-go, no joy, no soap
    Sense id: en-no_dice-en-phrase-fgsfBe9D
{
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "craps",
      "craps"
    ],
    [
      "dice",
      "dice"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_text": "A term used in the game craps when the dice land off the table, invalidating the throw.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "phr"
      },
      "expansion": "no dice",
      "name": "en-head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "An unacceptable alternative."
      ],
      "id": "en-no_dice-en-phrase-NIWCOJ6k",
      "links": [
        [
          "unacceptable",
          "unacceptable"
        ],
        [
          "alternative",
          "alternative"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An unacceptable alternative."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "4 70 26",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 81 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 85 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unfavorable result."
      ],
      "id": "en-no_dice-en-phrase-g1otj9wh",
      "links": [
        [
          "unfavorable",
          "unfavorable"
        ],
        [
          "result",
          "result"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An unfavorable result."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              37,
              44
            ]
          ],
          "text": "We looked all over the house for it. No dice.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              54,
              61
            ]
          ],
          "text": "The board considered the proposal at the meeting, but no dice for now.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              353,
              360
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1953, Ian Fleming, “Black Hare and Grey Hound”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 105:",
          "text": "Of course. The idea was a straight swop. The girl against his cheque for forty million. Well, he wouldn't play: wouldn't think of playing. She was in the Service and knew what she was up against. He wouldn't even ask M. This job was more important than her. It was just too bad. She was a fine girl, but he wasn't going to fall for this childish trick. No dice.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              176,
              183
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1958, Cochran, Ray Edward; Capehart, Jerry Neil, “Summertime Blues” (vinyl), performed by Cochran, Ray Edward, Liberty Records, →OCLC, B-side \"Love Again\":",
          "text": "I′m a-gonna raise a fuss, I'm a-gonna raise a holler / About a-workin′ all summer just-a tryin' to earn a dollar / Every time I call my baby, try to get a date / My boss says \"No dice son, you gotta work late\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to express a negative outcome or decision."
      ],
      "id": "en-no_dice-en-phrase-fgsfBe9D",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Used to express a negative outcome or decision."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "6 41 53",
          "word": "no-go"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "6 41 53",
          "word": "no joy"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "6 41 53",
          "word": "no soap"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "nō dīs"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-no dice.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3d/En-au-no_dice.ogg/En-au-no_dice.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/En-au-no_dice.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "no dice"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrases",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "craps",
      "craps"
    ],
    [
      "dice",
      "dice"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_text": "A term used in the game craps when the dice land off the table, invalidating the throw.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "phr"
      },
      "expansion": "no dice",
      "name": "en-head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "no-go"
    },
    {
      "word": "no joy"
    },
    {
      "word": "no soap"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unacceptable alternative."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "unacceptable",
          "unacceptable"
        ],
        [
          "alternative",
          "alternative"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An unacceptable alternative."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unfavorable result."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "unfavorable",
          "unfavorable"
        ],
        [
          "result",
          "result"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An unfavorable result."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              37,
              44
            ]
          ],
          "text": "We looked all over the house for it. No dice.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              54,
              61
            ]
          ],
          "text": "The board considered the proposal at the meeting, but no dice for now.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              353,
              360
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1953, Ian Fleming, “Black Hare and Grey Hound”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 105:",
          "text": "Of course. The idea was a straight swop. The girl against his cheque for forty million. Well, he wouldn't play: wouldn't think of playing. She was in the Service and knew what she was up against. He wouldn't even ask M. This job was more important than her. It was just too bad. She was a fine girl, but he wasn't going to fall for this childish trick. No dice.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              176,
              183
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1958, Cochran, Ray Edward; Capehart, Jerry Neil, “Summertime Blues” (vinyl), performed by Cochran, Ray Edward, Liberty Records, →OCLC, B-side \"Love Again\":",
          "text": "I′m a-gonna raise a fuss, I'm a-gonna raise a holler / About a-workin′ all summer just-a tryin' to earn a dollar / Every time I call my baby, try to get a date / My boss says \"No dice son, you gotta work late\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to express a negative outcome or decision."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Used to express a negative outcome or decision."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "nō dīs"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-no dice.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3d/En-au-no_dice.ogg/En-au-no_dice.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/En-au-no_dice.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "no dice"
}

Download raw JSONL data for no dice meaning in All languages combined (2.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.