long shot
58
4.6
- noun
- /lɔŋ ʃɑt/
- Informal
:
apuesta arriesgada
- Although it's a long shot, applying for that prestigious grant could change our research opportunities.
Elon Musk himself called Dojo a long shot, so I don't really care.
- Elon Musk himself called Dojo a long shot, so I don't really care.
- But it's not like as big a long shot as I thought.
- It's possible, but it's statistically a real long shot.
- That's your glimmer of hope, but still a long shot.
- This is kind of a long shot, but do you have an employee of the name Stevie Markley?
- So say they have the summit and North Korea agrees to dismantle its nuclear weapons, which, OK, this is all a bit of a long shot.
- This stuff is a long shot, but the idea of what loving another means, it's the sort of the Powerball of narcissistic change.
- It's such a long shot that it gives you a chance to go through your head and think, oh, come on, slow down, turn around, make AU turn or run after him.
- So I am taking a long shot chance at living a much longer life.
- We got stuff that was a long shot or we got high Wiz Minaj, he knows about this shit.
Examples
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This is kind of a long shot, but do you have an employee of the name Stevie Markley?
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The project is a long shot, but we should still give it our best effort.
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But it's not like as big a long shot as I thought.
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Well, it was a long shot, but we got lucky.
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It's a long shot, but it's enough to go to trial.
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Okay, this is a long shot, but I got one important question for you.
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Everyone involved in the petition recognized it was a long shot.
Academic text (1990) -
It's a long shot, let's be honest, but it's a genuine experiment.
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It's a long shot, but if the permits are still in effect, they're worth a fortune.
Fiction book (1990) -
The fairy-tale unbeaten season was thought to be a long shot in August.
Blog text (27)
Synonyms
12
4.8
Good to try something even if it may not work
10
3.4
A very small possibility that something will happen
6
3.5
A very small possibility that something will happen
How Likely
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'shot' can be understood as an attempt and 'long' typically denotes distance or duration; together they form a metaphor (a shot taken from far away is unlikely to succeed) so the basic idea of an attempt is derivable but the specific nuance of low probability is metaphorical. A B1 learner who knows both words might guess it relates to an attempt but may not reliably infer the 'unlikely' component without prior exposure, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The noun long shot comes from the idea of a shot from a long distance being hard to make. Because that 'attempt' is unlikely, people use long shot for a risky try that is still worth trying.