make a long story short

Idioms and Phrases

Get to the point, as in To make a long story short, they got married and moved to Omaha . Although the idea of abbreviating a long-winded account is ancient, this precise phrase dates only from the 1800s. Henry David Thoreau played on it in a letter of 1857: “Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long time to make it short.”

Example Sentences

To make a long story short, in this book Lewis doesn’t exercise any.

From Los Angeles Times

“To make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my ‘67 Corvette, and my cat,” he continued.

From Washington Times

“To make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my ’67 Corvette, and my cat,” Mr. Biden said with a chuckle.

From Washington Times

“To make a long story short,” she said, “it was not cool at all.”

From New York Times

I felt total sympathy for the Ukrainian journalist who plaintively asked at the news conference: “Can we make a long story short and give Ukraine all capabilities it needs and liberate all territories sooner rather than later?”

From Seattle Times