long tail

British

noun

commerce the segment of a market representing the large number of products that sell in small quantities, considered by some to be of greater financial value than the few products that sell in very large quantities

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of long tail

C21: from the appearance of typical sales patterns on a graph

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

You could, of course, play all three left-armers, but that would probably mean leaving out vice-captain Charlie Dean and having a problematically long tail.

From BBC • May 20, 2026

“Reality has a super long tail of complexity,” Musk added in the Jan. 8 post on X, the social-media platform he owns.

From MarketWatch • May 4, 2026

“Companies that have owned the long tail legacy entertainment channels have been the ones that have been the most challenged.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026

Colbert was given a pink slip with a long tail this year.

From Salon • Dec. 24, 2025

Only Clover remained, and Benjamin, who lay down at Boxer’s side, and, without speaking, kept the flies off him with his long tail.

From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023