by a long shot

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Prepositional phrase

by a long shot

1. (idiomatic, usually with a negative) By a wide margin; indicates a very big difference or disparity.

   He couldn't keep up with me, not by a long shot.

   He speaks better than he writes, by a long shot.

   • 1883, Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi:

     ‘Yes, I do recognize it now. It is the most wonderful thing I ever heard of; by a long shot the most wonderful—and unexpected.’

   • 1913, Jack London, The Valley of the Moon:

     Well, he won’t find Billy Roberts a sissy by a long shot.

   • 1920, Sinclair Lewis, Main Street:

     See here: You KNOW you feel superior to folks. You're not as bad as I say, but you're not as good as you say—not by a long shot! What’s the reason you’re so superior?

Synonyms

• See by far § Synonyms

Translations

by a wide margin

• Finnish: lähimainkaan, sinne päinkään (with a negative), lähestulkoonkaan (with a negative), likimainkaan (with a negative)
• French: largement (fr), de loin (fr), haut la main (fr)
• German: bei weitem, bei Weitem, (in the context of a negative) lange (de), (in the context of a negative, temporally) noch (de) lange (de)
• Japanese: 決して (ja) (けっして, kesshite), 絶対 (ja) (ぜったい, zettai), 断然 (ja) (だんぜん, danzen)
• Polish: bynajmniej (pl) (with a negative), o wiele (pl)
• Romanian: de departe, (negative) nici pe departe
• Spanish: de lejos, ni por asomo, ni mucho menos (es), ni por casualidad, ni de lejos, ni de cerca

See also

• long shot
• wide of the mark