come a long way
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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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Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.
Words nearby come a long way
come across, come again?, come alive, come-all-ye, come along, come a long way, come and get it, come and go, come apart at the seams, come around, come at
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
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