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in the long run

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Idioms and Phrases

Over a lengthy period of time, in the end. For example, He realized that in the long run, their argument wouldn't seem so awful . This expression, which originated as at the long run in the early 1600s, presumably alludes to a runner who continues on his course to the end. Economist John Maynard Keynes used it in a much-quoted quip about economic planning: “In the long run we are all dead.” The antonym, in the short run , meaning “over a short period of time,” dates only from the 1800s. The novelist George Eliot used both in a letter (October 18, 1879): “Mrs. Healy's marriage is surely what you expected in the long or short run.”

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Example Sentences

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Regardless, he sees the trade-off as worth it for Netflix in the long run - particularly looking ahead to WrestleMania's global debut tonight, which is expected to break streaming records.

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Still only in his second season in Dutch football, signing Gaaei will very much be a project signing for Liverpool but one that could well pay off in the long run.

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"It would have been far kinder in the long run for somebody to have just been brutally honest with me... that no help was coming and I just had to sort myself out," she said.

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And being effective in the long run often means seeing the short run differently.

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"I think in the long run, if it saves lives then it's saving costs for the NHS and that is going to save a lot more than changing some signs," she said.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

in the limelight in the loop

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