phrase

• An act whose outcome cannot be foreseen; a mere guess.

  ‘their experiments were little more than shots in the dark’

  More example sentences

  • ‘I'll whisper this in case it is too much of a shot in the dark but I believe West Indies will win at least one Test in England.’
  • ‘It is a shot in the dark, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.’
  • ‘The Oxford Declaration was not a shot in the dark or an isolated incident.’
  • ‘Everything else is guess-work: a stab in the dark.’
  • ‘Just a shot in the dark really, I didn't expect it to work…’
  • ‘Banning smoking in bars and restaurants is unprecedented, so in many ways it's a shot in the dark.’
  • ‘Even if you are truly ambitious, it's a mistake to apply for jobs which are too much of a shot in the dark.’
  • ‘If it was a shot in the dark, it was uncannily accurate: there are many common Irish names, most of which would come more readily to the tongue.’
  • ‘A bit of a shot in the dark this one, but you never know…’
  • ‘But, I'd bet everyone here at Pro Football Weekly and any self-respecting football writer at any other worthy publication hopefully knows predictions are a shot in the dark.’
  • ‘So it is really just a stab in the dark sometimes from the Met Office.’
  • ‘This may be a shot in the dark, but to me I see the emerging trend and I see it in one capitalist icon; Wal-Mart.’
  • ‘Granted, this is all a bit of a shot in the dark, but there is a third possibility.’
  • ‘She knew it was a shot in the dark, and Nic probably figured that the conversation was heading that way.’
  • ‘Here again, you should gather as much information as possible instead of taking a shot in the dark.’
  • ‘I know this is a shot in the dark, but, why don't you go out with him?’
  • ‘Liz thought he was vaguely familiar and took a stab in the dark where she had seen him from.’
  • ‘I took a stab in the dark: probably Belinda, from the description Attila'd given me.’
  • ‘‘Lemmie guess’ said Jamie ‘and I'm just taking a stab in the dark here, but are you a cheerleader?’’
  • ‘Those were all questions that Airen couldn't rightly answer without guessing or taking a stab in the dark, but at least Airen tried.’

  Synonyms

  guess, random guess, wild guess, surmise, supposition, conjecture, speculation, theorizing

  View synonyms