near the mark
1
4.1
- idiom
:
casi correcto
- While her answer was not perfect, it was near the mark in terms of accuracy and showed she had studied the subject well.
Examples
-
The teacher said that our calculations were near the mark, indicating that we only made minor errors.
-
We had another name for them, but that is near the mark.
Fiction book (1991) -
Had Matt's statement been too near the mark for comfort?
Fiction book (2000) -
Your hate, although false and nowhere near the mark, gives me hope.
Blog text (22) -
I suspect that Gallup and Mr. Goeas are near the mark within Romney at +5.
Blog text (16) -
His estimate of the project's completion time was near the mark, reflecting his understanding of the challenges involved.
Synonyms
29
3.9
Nearly correct or exact but not completely
Not completely exact but close to the real value
Antonyms
How Accurate
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'close to being correct' is directly and compositionally derived from 'near' (close) + 'mark' (target/point), with 'the' functioning as a determiner; a learner who knows these words can infer the figurative sense of being close to the target or correct answer. This construction is a straightforward compositional pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will almost certainly understand it.
Etymology
Near the mark may come from archery or shooting, where mark is the target and near means close to it. If an arrow lands near the target it is almost a hit, so the phrase means 'close to being correct'.