come a long way

Idioms  

1. Make considerable progress or improvement, as in That's good, Rob—you've certainly come a long way. This usage, which transfers the “distance” of a long way to progress, gained considerable currency in the 1960s and 1970s in an advertising slogan for Virginia Slims cigarettes addressed especially to women: “You've come a long way, baby.”

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Example Sentences

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come a long way

Robertson said visitors had loved seeing the rescued turtles improve and that the two animals had come a long way.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

Parton had come a long way: She remembered Wagoner paying her $60,000 a year when she started.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

She says the app has come a long way since it first launched in the US in 2014, with machine learning systems which could identify 285 common bird species from photos.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

The Massachusetts native has come a long way since making trips to Manhattan in pursuit of his Hollywood dream.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

“Please. I’ve come a long way to do this.”

From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker