By Any Stretch of the Imagination In english explanation

The meaning, explanation, definition and origin of the idiom/phrase "By Any Stretch of the Imagination", English Idiom Dictionary ( also found in Vietnamese )

Rachel Nguyen

2020-11-17 01:11

Meaning of By Any Stretch of the Imagination

Synonyms:

hardly , impossibly , scarcely , not true , unattainably , impractically

By Any Stretch of the Imagination negative phrase

This idiom is usually used in the negative—as in, "This is not possible by any stretch of the imagination"—this phrase means something is definitely not possible or true. In the modern-day, this phrase is most often used in the negative or the interrogative.
People sometimes just say "by any stretch".
The phrase "by no stretch (of the imagination)" can be used instead of not by any stretch (of the imagination). This could not by any stretch be seen as a failure or This could by no stretch be seen as a victory.

Used to say strongly that something is not true, even if you try to imagine or believe it.

Do you know anyone who, by any stretch of the imagination, could be mistaken for Santa Claus?

Her husband is not a sexist by any stretch of the imagination.

They're really not going to win the competition by any stretch of the imagination.

spoken Used to emphasize that a negative statement is true.

Sarah's family wasn’t wealthy by any stretch of the imagination.

It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a nice house, but the family loved it and built their life there.

I am very puzzled as to how either of these two mischievous students can be successfully billionaires by any stretch of the imagination.

Other phrases about:

egg in (one's) beer

To want more and more when somebody's already got all what they need

a ghost of a chance

Very little chance of succeeding in doing something

know only too well

To have experience and understand of how bad or unplesant something is

a cloud hangs over (someone or something)

Someone or something is in a state of suspicion, negativity, or uncertainty, usually because something else bad happened before.

Origin of By Any Stretch of the Imagination

Something that is not possible by any stretch of the imagination is not possible even in the strongest imagination; it is something that is definitely not true or possible. (Image Source: Internet)

Stretch has meant to lengthen by force since the late-14th century and to enlarge beyond proper limits from the mid-16th century. Stretching the imagination, in this sense, is forcing your imagination to try to conceive of something outside proper limits.

The phrase began circulating in the early to mid-1800s, and we can see an example in the New-York Daily Tribune from July 1844,

The remainder of the party might have been supposed, without any remarkable stretch of the imagination, to have emerged from the workhouse.

Another example comes from The Republic in November 1849,

Can we, by any stretch of the imagination, suppose some Walter Scott of a new race in Australia or South Africa saying the same of the Vedas or the Koran?

The Origin Cited: writingexplained.org .