in the long run

1. Over a lengthy period of time, in the end. For example, He realized that in the long run, their argument wouldn't seem so awful. This expression, which originated as at the long run in the early 1600s, presumably alludes to a runner who continues on his course to the end. Economist John Maynard Keynes used it in a much-quoted quip about economic planning: “In the long run we are all dead.” The antonym, in the short run, meaning “over a short period of time,” dates only from the 1800s. The novelist George Eliot used both in a letter (October 18, 1879): “Mrs. Healy's marriage is surely what you expected in the long or short run.”

Example Sentences

“We have the luxury of saying we haven’t done that bit in the long run, right?”

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“Getting people food for today is incredibly important, but really looking at those longer term solutions is what we all need in the long run.”

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“Totalitarianism demands the continuous alteration of the past and in the long run probably demands a disbelief in the very existence of objective truth.”

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Your house, given the historic figures of the housing market, will continue to appreciate over time and the work that you put into it will pay dividends in the long run.

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“It might not be the best price for the asset, but if I can redeploy that capital back into a higher-returning asset in the long run, that’s all that matters,” he said.

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Related Words

• already 
• belatedly 
• eventually 
• someday 
• sooner or later 
• subsequently 
• ultimately