so far as
98
3.5
- idiom
:
en la medida en que (formal)
- There was certainly never any animosity between them, so far as I am aware.
- so far as I know
- go so far as
- so far as possible
He says it is so far as it is a passive whole.
- He says it is so far as it is a passive whole.
- Sally Hemmings is around and never did they have a confrontation so far as we know.
- But she was out of his mind, or out of his mind, so far as I could tell, in those years when I grew up.
- And shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth about all this, so far as the truth be ascertainable?
- There are Mars bars, which have nothing to do with Mars, so far as I know, except that Mars is thought to be a nice thing.
- Nobody, so far as I've read, makes the claim that Hamas, excuse me, that Iran was directly responsible.
- And because if you're protecting your characters, if you're protecting them from pain or yourself from the pain, you can only go so far as a writer.
- Within that process, she went so far as to change the kids names.
- They can go so far as throttling or disabling service or access to a site, to a channel, to a competitor.
- You even go so far as to talk about slime molds.
- So this is a perfect hell in so far as that's possible.
- What matters not accepting so far as it affects the amount of happiness, is who produces that happiness or where that happiness goes.
- But when I crash, I really crash energy wise so far as pain and anything like that.
Examples
-
He's innocent so far as the court is concerned.
-
No group has taken responsibility for the bombing yet so far as we know.
-
But she was out of his mind, or out of his mind, so far as I could tell, in those years when I grew up.
-
you could go so far as to say the presence of God,
-
Let me just tell you generally what we're up against, so far as I understand it.
Fiction book (1991) -
I believe, sir, we can go so far as to say children that have been vaccinated can be picked out from those who are not.
-
At one point, he even went so far as to call for Gorbachev to step down.
Academic text (1992) -
I would go so far as to describe him as a visionary man.
-
And this is true, so far as we know, of every Organism on the earth.
-
Many people would go so far as to say that honesty is the best policy.
Synonyms
35
6.7
To the extent that something is true or happens
14
3.9
As much as someone says or suggests
3
3.9
It applies at the level already mentioned
2
6.0
Only to the degree that something is true
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines words that signal degree/extent ('so', 'far') with the comparative particle 'as', so its meaning 'to the extent that' is directly derivable from the constituents and parallels the common construction 'as far as'. A B1 learner who knows the three words would therefore very likely infer the MWE's meaning (though learners sometimes confuse the similar standalone phrase 'so far' meaning 'until now').
Etymology
The phrase so far as comes from the image of distance and limits. Imagine reaching out only so far and stopping at that point. That idea of a limit is why the phrase means 'to the extent that'.