come a long way
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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Lincolnesque
Words nearby come a long way
comdr, comdr., comdt, comdt., come, come a long way, come about, come across, come again?, come alive, come along
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
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