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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.

See Examples For:

"A miss is as good as a mile," put in Bart.

From Army Boys in the French Trenches Or, Hand to Hand Fighting with the Enemy by Homer Randall

A miss is as good as a mile, though.

From The Camp in the Snow, or, Besieged by Danger by William Murray Graydon

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 Allen Chapman

"A miss is as good as a mile," he observed, and there was a sort of exultation in his voice.

From Sight Unseen by Mary Roberts Rinehart

A miss is as good as a mile, you know.

From Gold Seekers of '49 by Charles H. Stephens

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 Richard Henry Dana

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