by any stretch

Idioms  

1. Beyond ordinary limits, especially of the imagination. For example, She could not, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered a great actress. The phrase sometimes is put in the negative, by no stretch, as in By no stretch can that work be called an opera. [Late 1700s]

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Example Sentences

"It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80 and she's younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination," he said.

From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026

“It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassinate. And they know that.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026

“They haven’t given up by any stretch of the imagination,” she said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

Just like 2024’s troubled “It Ends with Us” — the first big-screen adaptation of one of Hoover’s novels— and last fall’s “Regretting You,” “Reminders of Him” isn’t good by any stretch of the imagination.

From Salon • Mar. 19, 2026

He wasn’t one of the main players by any stretch, but he was not doing badly in relation to others in the neighborhood.

From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore