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  • A miss is as good as a mile
    A miss is as good as a mile
    A near miss is still a miss and therefore no better than missing by a great margin. Losing a game by one point is still losing.
  • miss is as good as a mile, a
    miss is as good as a mile, a
    Coming close to success but failing is no better than failing by a lot, as in He was beaten by just one vote, but a miss is as good as a mile. This proverbial expression, first recorded in 1614, is a shortening of the older form, “An inch of a miss is as good [or bad] as a mile of a miss.”

A miss is as good as a mile

Cultural  
  1. A near miss is still a miss and therefore no better than missing by a great margin. Losing a game by one point is still losing.


miss is as good as a mile, a Idioms  
  1. Coming close to success but failing is no better than failing by a lot, as in He was beaten by just one vote, but a miss is as good as a mile. This proverbial expression, first recorded in 1614, is a shortening of the older form, “An inch of a miss is as good [or bad] as a mile of a miss.”


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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"A miss is as good as a mile," screams Harry, flying by on the other side, with flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes.

From Harper's Young People, June 1, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various

A miss is as good as a mile and a half.

From Frank and Andy Afloat The Cave on the Island by Barnum, Vance

"A miss is as good as a mile," was Ben's comment when they all breathed more freely, "but no more misses like that, thank you."

From The Boy Aviators' Treasure Quest by Goldfrap, John Henry

Miss. A miss is as good as a mile.

From Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases With a Copious Index of Principal Words by Preston, Thomas

A miss is as good as a mile, I guess.

From Bart Keene's Hunting Days or, The Darewell Chums in a Winter Camp by Chapman, Allen

However, "a miss is as good as a mile;" a saying which sailors very often have occasion to use.

From Two Years Before the Mast by Dana, Richard Henry

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