Idiom
country mile
Meaning
A long way, a great distance.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The next gas station is a country mile away.”
“This old house is a country mile from the nearest grocery store.”
“You are a country mile away from the correct answer to this question.”
“You missed the turn, so the hotel is now a country mile behind us.”
“The runner won the race by a country mile, crossing the finish line long before the other athletes even appeared.”
“Her new apartment is a country mile from her office, so she spends two hours on the train every morning.”
“Although he claimed to be near the destination, the village remained a country mile beyond the distant, fog-covered hills.”
Examples
simple
“The next gas station is a country mile away.”
“This old house is a country mile from the nearest grocery store.”
“You are a country mile away from the correct answer to this question.”
contextual
“You missed the turn, so the hotel is now a country mile behind us.”
“The runner won the race by a country mile, crossing the finish line long before the other athletes even appeared.”
“Her new apartment is a country mile from her office, so she spends two hours on the train every morning.”
complex
“Although he claimed to be near the destination, the village remained a country mile beyond the distant, fog-covered hills.”
Origin
From *country* + *mile*, the term entered the written record c. 1717 in the publications of M. Dutton.
The idiom derives from the topographical inconveniences of rural travel. Whereas a mile in the city might follow a straight line, roads in the country were notable for a winding, twisting nature. This lack of linear discipline ensured that the perceived distance of the journey frequently exceeded the measured distance of the road.
Key words
Related idioms
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