Idiom
wide of the mark
Meaning
(Very) inaccurate.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Your guess about the price is wide of the mark.”
“The reporter's initial theory about the accident was wide of the mark, as new evidence soon proved.”
“Although the analyst claimed his forecasts were precise, his projections for the quarterly earnings remained significantly wide of the mark.”
Examples
simple
“Your guess about the price is wide of the mark.”
contextual
“The reporter's initial theory about the accident was wide of the mark, as new evidence soon proved.”
complex
“Although the analyst claimed his forecasts were precise, his projections for the quarterly earnings remained significantly wide of the mark.”
Origin
From archery and sports jargon, the expression refers to an arrow or projectile failing to strike its intended target. The phrase is occasionally corrupted to wide off the mark or widely off the mark, though the original construction remains the standard form.
Key words
Related idioms
- Updated