IN THE LONG RUN Definition & Meaning

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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

Examples have not been reviewed.

“But if your remodel is about adding random luxury features that don’t fit the surrounding neighborhood, it may not pay off in the long run,” he said.

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Maybe the drivel would sate you for an hour, but something with genuine substance would taste and feel a whole lot better in the long run.

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Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. – who voted down the measure on reversing Canada duties – told CNN that the president’s calculation that tariffs would shift manufacturing back in the long run wasn’t a safe bet.

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I think in the long run, it's going to get us out of the massive deficit that we're in.

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Some experts have questioned whether, in the long run, the U.S. can recoup the domestic manufacturing base that it gave up in favor of a globalized economy.

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

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