“Come rain or shine” expresses commitment or certainty despite changing conditions. It can refer literally to weather, but its ordinary idiomatic use is broader: something will happen regardless of difficulties or circumstances.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionPhrases & Idioms
Quick answer
“Come rain or shine” means regardless of what happens or what conditions arise.
Key details
Canonical Formcome rain or shine
Core Meaningregardless of what happens or what the conditions are
Further guidance
History Boundary
The page publishes the current dictionary-supported meaning without claiming an exact inventor, coinage date, or absolute first use.
Meaning
regardless of what happens or what the conditions are
Usage Boundary
Use it to emphasize that a plan, action, or commitment will continue despite conditions; it does not itself identify what those conditions will be.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
“Come hell or high water” expresses strong determination to proceed despite difficulties or obstacles. It is emphatic and informal, so its tone may be stronger than needed in neutral professional prose.
“Cross that bridge when we come to it” means deal with a possible problem if and when it actually arises instead of worrying about it in advance. An 1851 Longfellow text directly preserves an older negative form and explicitly calls it an old proverb.
“Between a rock and a hard place” describes being trapped in a very difficult situation that requires a hard choice. This guide publishes the current meaning supported by Cambridge and does not add an unsupported exact-origin chronology.
A “can of worms” is a complicated situation that produces many further problems when you begin to deal with it. Cambridge marks the idiom informal. Use it for a problem that opens into further complications, not merely for a single isolated difficulty.
A “Catch-22” describes an impossible situation in which one requirement depends on another condition that cannot be met first. Use it for a self-defeating dependency or circular trap, not merely for any difficult choice or ordinary dilemma.
Double bind describes a trap created by incompatible expectations or choices. In ordinary writing it can describe a practical dilemma; specialist psychological uses can carry narrower theoretical meanings.
“Face the music” means accept criticism, punishment, or responsibility for something you have done. The guide gives the current meaning without attaching an unsupported exact origin date.
“Get cold feet” describes suddenly losing the nerve to carry out a plan, especially an important one. This guide records the current idiom meaning supported by Cambridge without asserting an unreviewed first-use date or origin story.
