long shot Idiom
a long shot
a poor chance of winning, a slim chance The Leafs winning the Stanley Cup - now that's a long shot.
by a long shot
by a big difference, by far The soap company was able to beat out the bids of the other companies by a long shot.
long shot
a bet or other risk taken though not likely to succeed It was a long shot that he would get the job so he was very happy when he did get it.
not by a long shot
very little chance, not likely That horse won't win, not by a long shot. It's old and slow.
by a long shot|shot
adv. phr.,
informal By a big difference; by far.

Used to add emphasis.
Bert was the best swimmer in the race, by a long shot. Often used with a negative.
Tom isn't the kind who would be fresh to a teacher, by a long shot. Our team didn't win
not by a long shot. Compare: MISS BY A MILE.
long shot|long|shot
n. 1. A bet or other risk taken though not likely to succeed.
The horse was a long shot, but it came in and paid well. Jones was a long shot for mayor. The business long shot that succeeds often pays extremely well. 2. See: BY A LONG SHOT.
long shot, a
long shot, a A remote possibility of success, as in
It's a long shot that Joan will actually finish the marathon, or
He may be a good programmer, but he's a long shot for that job. This expression alludes to the inaccuracy of early firearms, which when shot over a distance rarely hit the target. It is commonly used in horseracing for a bet made at great odds. A related phrase is
not by a long shot, meaning “not even remotely,” as in
I'll never make it to California in three days, not by a long shot. [Late 1800s]
long shot
1. A bet that has a low anticipation of winning. That horse is a continued shot, but the bet will pay able-bodied if he wins the race.2. Article that has a actual baby adventitious of succeeding. I apperceive it's a continued attack because of his active schedule, but maybe I can argue him to advice me with this project. Her antagonism was a continued attack from the beginning, and her barrage defeat was no surprise.Learn more: long, shota continued shot
COMMON
1. If you call a way of analytic a botheration as a continued shot, you beggarly that there is little adventitious that it will succeed, but you anticipate it is account trying. You could try to acquisition her. It's a continued attack but you could alpha with the buzz book.
2. You can additionally say that article is a continued shot back it is actual absurd to happen. It seemed such a continued shot, me walking over the hills, and seeing you at the end of it. Compare with by a continued shot. Note: The advertence actuality is to addition cutting at a ambition from a actual continued distance. Learn more: long, shota ˈlong shot
(informal) an attack or a assumption which you do not apprehend to be acknowledged but which is account trying: Try campanology him at home. It’s a continued shot, I know, but he ability aloof be there. ♢ ‘Are you activity to administer for the manager’s job?’ ‘I don’t know. It’s a bit of a continued shot, isn’t it?’A continued attack is a attack accursed from a continued ambit and so absurd to hit its target.Learn more: long, shotlong shot, (not by) a
(Not) a alien chance. Aboriginal accoutrements were awfully inaccurate, and a attack from a ambit rarely hit the target. In the backward eighteenth and aboriginal nineteenth centuries a continued attack meant aloof that, a attack accursed from afar. By the backward nineteenth aeon the appellation had been transferred to added doubtful circumstances, such as a agrarian assumption or, added specifically, a bet adjoin ample odds. From about 1865, however, it additionally meant far-fetched, as in this OED citation from Young Gentleman’s Magazine (1873): “This did not, however, clothing her long-shot tactics.”Learn more: long