by far

prepositional phrase

To a considerably large extent, easily.

“Paris is by far the largest city in France.”

Similar
all dayby a long chalkby a long shotby a wide marginby some distancefar and awayby a long wayby far and away
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Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. idiomaticTo a considerably large extent, easily.

    Paris is by far the largest city in France.

    2 more examples

    These are by far the most impressive narrow-gauge engines in Greece.

    1953 October, A. Trevor Hodge, “On the Narrow Gauge in the Peloponnesus”, in Railway Magazine, page 669

    Wouldn't it be nobler by far to fight the good fight with all the weapons available: a firm bass voice, a wagging finger, the Bible?

    2001 June 10, Walter Kim, “What Do You Tell The Kids?”, in TIME, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2016, retrieved 16 Jul 2014

    Synonyms: all day, by a long chalk, by a long shot, by a wide margin, by some distance, far and away, by a long way, by far and away

Synonyms & antonyms

prepositional phraseTo a considerably large extent, easily.

Similar
all dayby a long chalkby a long shotby a wide marginby some distancefar and awayby a long wayby far and away

More synonyms by meaning

adverbby a considerable margin

Similar
far and awayout and away
Also see
by a wide marginby some distancefar and awayout and away

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Ancient Greek ὄχα
  • ὄχα (ókha)to a large extent
Catalan de molt
  • de moltto a large extent
Chinese Mandarin 遠遠地 /远远地
  • 遠遠地 /远远地 (yuǎnyuǎn de)to a large extent
Czech zdaleka
  • zdalekato a large extent
Dutch verreweg, lang
  • verrewegto a large extent
  • langto a large extent
Finnish ylivoimaisesti, selvästi
  • ylivoimaisestito a large extent
  • selvästito a large extent
French de loin, loin s'en faut
  • de lointo a large extent
  • loin s'en fautto a large extent
  • tant s'en fautto a large extent
German mit Abstand, bei Weitem
  • mit Abstandto a large extent
  • bei Weitemto a large extent
  • weitausto a large extent
Greek κατά πολύ, μακράν
  • κατά πολύ (katá polý)to a large extent
  • μακράν (makrán)to a large extent
Icelandic lang-, langsamlega
  • lang-to a large extent
  • langsamlegato a large extent
Italian di gran lunga
  • di gran lungato a large extent
Polish zdecydowanie
  • zdecydowanieto a large extent
Portuguese de longe, disparado
  • de longeto a large extent
  • disparadoto a large extent
Romanian de departe
  • de departeto a large extent
Russian несомне́нно
  • несомне́нно (nesomnénno)to a large extent
Spanish de lejos, con creces
  • de lejosto a large extent
  • con crecesto a large extent
  • con muchoto a large extent
  • por muchoto a large extent
  • con diferenciato a large extent
  • por mucho margento a large extent
  • por amplio margento a large extent
  • lejos (Arg.)to a large extent
Swedish med marginal, i särklass
  • med marginalto a large extent
  • i särklassto a large extent
Turkish açık ara
  • açık arato a large extent
Ukrainian безсумні́вно, без су́мніву
  • безсумні́вно (bezsumnívno)to a large extent
  • без су́мніву (bez súmnivu)to a large extent
  • на сього́дні (na sʹohódni)to a large extent
  • на да́ний моме́нт (na dányj momént)to a large extent
Welsh o lawer, o bell ffordd
  • o lawerto a large extent
  • o bell fforddto a large extent
Cite this entry
APA

by far. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20far

MLA

“by far.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20far. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “by far,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20far.

Source: by far on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.