Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word wide of the mark. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word wide of the mark, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say wide of the mark in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word wide of the mark you have here. The definition of the word wide of the mark will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofwide of the mark, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Each had a gun, and the three had been shooting at a number of rabbits. Only Werner had been successful, the others shooting wide of the mark.
1963, Ralph K. Andrist, “Frontier Hothead”, in Andrew Jackson: Soldier and Statesman (American Heritage Junior Library), New York, N.Y.: American Heritage Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 42, column 1:
In most duels, both men usually felt that honor was satisfied even when their shots went wide of the mark, and very often both duelists purposely shot into the air or the ground. But this time both men [Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickinson] meant to shoot to kill.
Well, I suppose you could say the weatherman was wide of the mark again then!
1726, John Stevens, “Pédro”, in A New Dictionary, Spanish and English, and English and Spanish, Much More Copious than Any Other hitherto Extant. Laying down the True Etymology of Words, with Their Various Significations; Terms of Arts and Sciences, Proper Names of Men and Women, Surnames of Families, Titles of Honour, the Geography of Spain and the West Indies, and Principal Plants Growing in those Parts. To which are Added, Vast Numbers of Proverbs, Phrases, and Difficult Expressions, All Literally Explained, with Their Equivalents. , London: Printed for J Darby [et al.], →OCLC, column 1:
Prov. Acertadole ha Pédro a la cogujada, que el rabo lleva tuérto: Peter has hit the lark, for her tail is awry. An expreſſion in deriſion, when a man is wide of the mark.
ur conjectures were like arrows ſhot in the dark—they were wide of the mark—till an old gentleman came into the room, who after affixing his ſpectacles on the ſuperior part of an aquiline noſe, told us—"he ſmelt a rat!"
I do know, though, that the cumulative effect of all these three- and five-minute film clips, with their almost unvarying implicit deference to the importance of purely military solutions (despite a few commentators' disclaimers to the contrary), and with their catering (in part unavoidably) to a popular democracy's insistent desire to view even as unbelievably complicated a war as this one in emotional terms (our guys against their guys), is surely wide of the mark, and is bound to provide these millions of people with an excessively simple, emotional and military-oriented view of what is, at best, a mighty unsimple situation.
Usage notes
Not to be confused with off the mark, which has a similar meaning. Wide off the mark is generally regarded as incorrect, or at least nonstandard.
