Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for long shot

long shot

[ lawng shot, long ]

noun

  1. a horse, team, etc., that has little chance of winning and carries long odds.
  2. an attempt or undertaking that offers much but in which there is little chance for success:

    Getting tickets at this late date is a long shot, but I'll give it a whirl.

  3. Movies, Television. a camera shot taken at a relatively great distance from the subject and permitting a broad view of a scene. Compare close-up ( def 2 ), medium shot.


long shot

noun

  1. a competitor, as in a race, considered to be unlikely to win
  2. a bet against heavy odds
  3. an undertaking, guess, or possibility with little chance of success
  4. films television a shot where the camera is or appears to be distant from the object to be photographed
  5. by a long shot
    by any means

    he still hasn't finished by a long shot

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of long shot1

First recorded in 1785–95
Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. by a long shot, by any means; by a measurable degree (usually used in the negative):

    They haven't finished by a long shot.

Discover More

Example Sentences

Gun regulation, of course, was not the only successful initiative, not by a long shot.

It does, and a little-known, long-shot Democrat is taking him to the wire.

For now, neither Warren nor Clinton are campaigning with long-shot Democrats in the Hawkeye State.

In 2012, Bentivolio filed as a long-shot primary candidate to take on idiosyncratic five-term incumbent Thaddeus McCotter.

McCotter, fresh off a long-shot presidential bid, was expected to cruise to victory.

A mile then was a long shot for the largest guns, and the Yankee cruisers had made a fair start.

You have a lot of soreheads to handle, here and at the division shops, and it isn't all their fault, not by a long shot.

Not that he or anybody else can tell me all about you—not by a long shot; I know boys and young men well enough for that.

Gavegan had grumbled to himself that it was only a thousand to one shot; but luck had been with him, and his long shot had won.

The actual limit is when the star has reached the density of a neutron, and this star hasn't collapsed that far by a long shot.

Advertisement

Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement