Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

the long and short

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.20 in modern English

Syllables: the -long and short
IPA

23

Scrabble Score

15

Letters

2

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

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

Example Sentences

"The speech went on for hours, but the long and short of it is that not much has changed since last year."
"Shepard: What's your relationship with Cerberus? Zaeed: Easy. Cerberus is paying me a lot of money to help you on your mission. That's the long and short."
"NR explained: "The long and short of it is that there is too much concern that the timetable wouldn't work in practice."

Inflected Forms

the long and the short (alternative)

Phrases

in a nutshell longs and shorts long story short

Frequently Paired Words

in a nutshell longs and shorts long story short

Synonyms

digest summary upshot

Questions

What does the long and short mean?: The gist; the essence or substance; the most important or salient features.

How to pronounce the long and short

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