shot in the dark

Idioms  

1. A wild, unsubstantiated guess; also, an attempt that has little chance for success. For example, It was a shot in the dark, but the engineers had a hunch that replacing the valve would make the system work, or You can try looking for your key on the beach, but I think it's a shot in the dark. [Colloquial; late 1800s]

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Example Sentences

It’s just a giant shot in the dark, and instinct.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 23, 2025

It was a "shot in the dark," Wang said, given that the two scientists had never conducted a study in humans.

From Science Daily • Feb. 28, 2024

Yet Toyota isn’t taking a shot in the dark.

From New York Times • Jan. 17, 2024

“Three times is excessive. I think they're just taking a shot in the dark here. It just sounds like a ‘Hail Mary’ pass,” Carolyn E. Demarest, a retired state judge, told the Daily Beast.

From Salon • Dec. 6, 2023

The Play-Doh was a shot in the dark.

From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller