Word.ws English Dictionary

by a long way

by a long way prepositional phrase: to a considerably large extent, easily. Typically used in the negative to indicate something far removed and not easily altered.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) To a considerably large extent, easily. Typically used in the negative to indicate something far removed and not easily altered.
    • “Now this won’t do - not by a long way”.1863 Hedderwick's miscellany of instructive and entertaining literature, ed. by J. Hedderwick. (1863). United Kingdom: (n.p.).p.180
    Synonyms:
    by far § Synonyms

Synonyms of by a long way

  • by far § Synonyms

Questions about by a long way

What does by a long way mean?
By a long way means to a considerably large extent, easily. Typically used in the negative to indicate something far removed and not easily altered.
What part of speech is by a long way?
By a long way is a prepositional phrase.

Words near by a long way in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: by a long way (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.

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