Definition of "long shot" [long shot]

• An entry, as in a horserace, with only a slight chance of winning. (noun)
• A bet made at great odds. (noun)
• A venture that offers a great reward if successful but has very little chance of success. (noun)
• A photograph or a film or television shot in which the subject is shown at a relatively small scale. (noun)
• By a long shot Informal To any extent; at all. Usually used in negative sentences: You haven't done your share of the work by a long shot. (idiom)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Seconds later a loop called Jungle Love came on: a jerky, hand-held pan of a plywood-paneled room, followed by a long shot of a naked black couple squirming on a daybed in time to a rhythm-and-funk beat."
• "Sicks authoritative inside account labels this a long shot that just missed, and it offered intermittent hope until the second week in April 1980."
• "But he quickly backpedaled, acknowledging that Feliciano remains a long shot to contribute this season."