not by a long shot


not by a long shot

Not at all; not by great or any means. I'm not beaten yet, not by a long shot! Oh, we aren't finished cleaning, not by a long shot—we still have the entire downstairs to tackle.See also: by, long, not, shot

not by a long shot

Fig. not by a great amount; not at all. Did I win the race? Not by a long shot. Not by a long shot did she complete the assignment.See also: by, long, not, shot

not by a long shot

by no means. 1991 Zee Edgell In Times Like These Even though we had a very good crowd at the meeting tonight we weren't at full strength, not by a long shot. See also: by, long, not, shot

long shot, (not by) a

(Not) a remote chance. Early firearms were notoriously inaccurate, and a shot from a distance rarely hit the target. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries a long shot meant just that, a shot fired from afar. By the late nineteenth century the term had been transferred to other improbable circumstances, such as a wild guess or, more specifically, a bet against considerable odds. From about 1865, however, it also meant far-fetched, as in this OED citation from Young Gentleman’s Magazine (1873): “This did not, however, suit her long-shot tactics.”See also: long