Un inconnu me sauve la vie

What does “à force de” mean in French?

À force de introduces a cause that worked by repetition. À force de travailler, il a réussi is “he succeeded through sheer persistence,” and à force d’entendre la chanson, je la connais par cœur explains itself. It takes an infinitive or a noun — à force de patience — and it always implies the doing happened again and again. English reaches for “by dint of” or “from doing it so much.”

In speech the phrase often stands alone: à force, on s’habitue — “after a while, you get used to it.” The result it points at is frequently an unwanted one, which is where its warning tone comes from: à force de tout remettre à demain, tu vas rater la date limite.