long shot
noun
1
: a venture involving great risk but promising a great reward if successful
also
: a venture unlikely to succeed
2
: an entry (as in a horse race) given little chance of winning
3
: a bet in which the chances of winning are slight but the possible winnings great
Examples of long shot in a Sentence
I hope to double my profits, but I know that's a long shot.
The horse was a long shot, but we bet on him anyway.
She always bets on long shots at the racetrack.
Recent Examples on the Web
Where the Earth has a dense atmosphere, abundant water and life, Mars is a desiccated, lifeless world where even the prospects of finding fossil bacteria are a long shot.
—
New Atlas, 12 July 2025
Why lose them for nothing when the playoffs are a long shot even with them?
—Aaron Gleeman, New York Times, 10 July 2025
Most of all, though, the cost-per-gig calculus here makes this our favorite performance-minded external-SSD choice for this Prime Day, by a long shot.
—PC Magazine, 10 July 2025
But even while reviews for F1 have been overwhelmingly positive and the two-and-a-half-hour race thriller is predicted to top all other wide-release movies this weekend, pulling in somewhere between $45 million and $55 million domestically, profitability remains something of a long shot.
—Chris Lee, Vulture, 27 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for long shot
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New Atlas, 12 July 2025
Why lose them for nothing when the playoffs are a long shot even with them?
—Aaron Gleeman, New York Times, 10 July 2025
Most of all, though, the cost-per-gig calculus here makes this our favorite performance-minded external-SSD choice for this Prime Day, by a long shot.
—PC Magazine, 10 July 2025
But even while reviews for F1 have been overwhelmingly positive and the two-and-a-half-hour race thriller is predicted to top all other wide-release movies this weekend, pulling in somewhere between $45 million and $55 million domestically, profitability remains something of a long shot.
—Chris Lee, Vulture, 27 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for long shot
Cite this Entry
“Long shot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/long%20shot. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
long shot
noun1
: a great risk that promises a great reward if successful
2
: an entry (as in a horse race) given little chance of winning
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