long arm
Americannoun
noun
-
power, esp far-reaching power
the long arm of the law
-
to reach out for something, as from a sitting position
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.
He was impressed that Draper, working his way back to full sharpness after a long arm injury lay-off, managed to reach the last eight in Indian Wells.
From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026
Unless those buyers can entirely evade the U.S. financial system and the long arm of the Treasury, transactions with the firms would place them in jeopardy.
From Barron's • Oct. 28, 2025
The nation’s multilayered historical background has been variously stamped by a basic Arabic heritage, ineradicable remnants of protracted Ottoman Turkish rule and the long arm of the British colonial empire.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 24, 2025
During the 1950s and ’60s, the long arm of AM radio brought both into her home.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 22, 2023
The voice had a long arm, its hand shaking a paper cup.
From "Clayton Byrd Goes Underground" by Rita Williams-Garcia
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
