Word.ws English Dictionary

not be able to hit the broad side of a barn

not be able to hit the broad side of a barn verb: to have very poor aim, such as while using firearms or in sports.

Verb

not be able to hit the broad side of a barn (third-person singular simple present cannot hit the broad side of a barn, no present participle, simple past could not hit the broad side of a barn, no past participle)

  1. (idiomatic, informal, no-past-participle, no-present-participle) To have very poor aim, such as while using firearms or in sports.
    • No, I am really not good at batting in baseball. I cannot hit the broad side of a barn, really.
    • The new recruit is absolutely worthless with a rifle. Blimey, she wouldn't be able to hit the broad side of a barn if I asked her to.

Synonyms of not be able to hit the broad side of a barn

Forms of not be able to hit the broad side of a barn

third-person singular presentcannot hit the broad side of a barn
pastcould not hit the broad side of a barn

Questions about not be able to hit the broad side of a barn

What does not be able to hit the broad side of a barn mean?
Not be able to hit the broad side of a barn means to have very poor aim, such as while using firearms or in sports.
What part of speech is not be able to hit the broad side of a barn?
Not be able to hit the broad side of a barn is a verb.
What is the past tense of not be able to hit the broad side of a barn?
The past tense of not be able to hit the broad side of a barn is could not hit the broad side of a barn.

Words near not be able to hit the broad side of a barn in the dictionary

  1. not as black as one is painted
  2. not as green as one is cabbage-looking
  3. not at all
  4. not at home to
  5. not bad
  6. not be able to hit the broad side of a barn
  7. not be caught dead
  8. not bear thinking about
  9. not before time
  10. not but
  11. not by a jugful

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: not be able to hit the broad side of a barn (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-not be able to hit the broad side of a barn.wav.

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