Word.ws English Dictionary

take a shot in the dark

take a shot in the dark verb: to try or guess at something without having any knowledge about the subject.

Verb

take a shot in the dark (third-person singular simple present takes a shot in the dark, present participle taking a shot in the dark, simple past took a shot in the dark, past participle taken a shot in the dark)

  1. (idiomatic) To try or guess at something without having any knowledge about the subject.
    • I didn't study for the test and took a shot in the dark.

Forms of take a shot in the dark

third-person singular presenttakes a shot in the dark
present participletaking a shot in the dark
pasttook a shot in the dark
past participletaken a shot in the dark

Questions about take a shot in the dark

What does take a shot in the dark mean?
Take a shot in the dark means to try or guess at something without having any knowledge about the subject.
What part of speech is take a shot in the dark?
Take a shot in the dark is a verb.
What is the past tense of take a shot in the dark?
The past tense of take a shot in the dark is took a shot in the dark.

Words near take a shot in the dark in the dictionary

  1. take a running jump
  2. take a seat
  3. take a shine to
  4. take a shining to
  5. take a shit
  6. take a shot in the dark
  7. take a sight
  8. take a spill
  9. take a stab at
  10. take a stand
  11. take a step back

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take a shot in the dark (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: En-au-take a shot in the dark.ogg.

Cite this entry: “take a shot in the dark.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/take_a_shot_in_the_dark. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.