Word.ws English Dictionary

by a long shot

by a long shot prepositional phrase: by a wide margin; indicates a very big difference or disparity.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (dated, idiomatic, usually) 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.
    Synonyms:
    by far § Synonyms

Examples of by a long shot in a sentence

  • It is the most wonderful thing I ever heard of; by a long shot the most wonderful—and unexpected.’1883, Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi:
  • Well, he won’t find Billy Roberts a sissy by a long shot.1913, Jack London, The Valley of the Moon:
  • You're not as bad as I say, but you're not as good as you say—not by a long shot!1920, Sinclair Lewis, Main Street:

Synonyms of by a long shot

  • by far § Synonyms

Questions about by a long shot

What does by a long shot mean?
By a long shot means by a wide margin; indicates a very big difference or disparity.
How do you use by a long shot in a sentence?
It is the most wonderful thing I ever heard of; by a long shot the most wonderful—and unexpected.’
What part of speech is by a long shot?
By a long shot is a prepositional phrase.

Words near by a long shot in the dictionary

  1. bxs
  2. by
  3. by a hair's breadth
  4. by a landslide
  5. by a long chalk
  6. by a long shot
  7. by a long way
  8. by a nose
  9. by a nose length
  10. by a time
  11. by a whisker

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: by a long shot (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-by a long shot.ogg.

Cite this entry: “by a long shot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/by_a_long_shot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.