wide of the mark

Adjective

wide of the mark

1. Of a projectile: missing the target.
   • Each had a gun, and the three had been shooting at a number of rabbits. Only Werner had been successful, the others shooting wide of the mark.1920, Arthur M. Winfield [pseudonym; Edward Stratemeyer], “At Tony Duval’s Camp”, in The Rover Boys on a Hunt: Or The Mysterious House in the Woods (The Second Rover Boys Series for Young Americans...
   • In most duels, both men usually felt that honor was satisfied even when their shots went wide of the mark, and very often both duelists purposely shot into the air or the ground. But this time both men [Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickinson] meant to shoot to kill.1963, Ralph K. Andrist, “Frontier Hothead”, in Andrew Jackson: Soldier and Statesman (American Heritage Junior Library), New York, N.Y.: American Heritage Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 42, column 1
2. (idiomatic) (Very) inaccurate.
   • Well, I suppose you could say the weatherman was wide of the mark again then!
   • Prov[erb]. Acertadole ha Pédro a la cogujada, que el rabo lleva tuérto: Peter has hit the lark, for her tail is awry. An expreſſion in deriſion, when a man is wide of the mark.1726, John Stevens, “Pédro”, in A New Dictionary, Spanish and English, and English and Spanish, Much More Copious than Any Other hitherto Extant. Laying down the True Etymology of Words, with Their...