Idiom
long story short
Meaning
Introducing a short version of, or simply the conclusion of, a relevant story.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Long story short, I missed the bus and arrived late.”
“Long story short, the new restaurant is way too expensive for us.”
“Long story short, I decided to quit my job and travel.”
“We got lost, the car broke down, and it rained; long story short, we never made it to the party.”
“I spent three hours trying to fix the sink myself, but long story short, I ended up calling a professional plumber to handle the mess.”
“They argued about the budget for weeks until the manager stepped in; long story short, the team finally agreed on a new plan.”
“After a series of unfortunate delays and unexpected complications during the project, long story short, we decided to cancel the entire venture.”
Examples
simple
“Long story short, I missed the bus and arrived late.”
“Long story short, the new restaurant is way too expensive for us.”
“Long story short, I decided to quit my job and travel.”
contextual
“We got lost, the car broke down, and it rained; long story short, we never made it to the party.”
“I spent three hours trying to fix the sink myself, but long story short, I ended up calling a professional plumber to handle the mess.”
“They argued about the budget for weeks until the manager stepped in; long story short, the team finally agreed on a new plan.”
complex
“After a series of unfortunate delays and unexpected complications during the project, long story short, we decided to cancel the entire venture.”
Origin
The phrase is a reduced form of the earlier expressions to cut a long story short and to make a long story short. Both variants appear in the 19th century as a means of concluding a narrative, though the abbreviated version has largely replaced them in common usage.
Key words
Related idioms
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