Phrase guide

the long and short

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The gist; the essence or substance; the most important or salient features.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: usually

Examples

  • The speech went on for hours, but the long and short of it is that not much has changed since last year.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

1 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Russian: самая суть (samaja sutʹ) — gist