Meanings
present singular third person goes to great lengths · participle present going to great lengths · past went to great lengths · participle past gone to great lengths · alternative go to extraordinary lengths
- idiomaticTo make a major effort; to be very careful when doing something, especially to an extreme or excessive degree.
As a father, I would go to great lengths to protect my children.
2013, Chad R. Torgerson, Waking Up Catholic: A Guide to Catholic Beliefs for Converts, Reverts, and Anyone Becoming Catholic, Assisi Media, published 2013, →ISBN, page 623 more examples
The most surprising thing was to discover that each job had its little tricks, peculiarities that had been learned in the experience of years, and one of the really pleasing features was the unlimited patience and kindliness of the chargehands and fitters, who would go to great lengths to teach the budding engineer all they themselves knew.
1944 September and October, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 283[…] They said good-bye on the eleventh, and the Portuguese noblemen saw him off, going to great lengths to show him respect."
2008, José Rodrigues does Santos, Codex 632: The Secret Identity of Christopher Columbus (trans. from the Portuguese by Alison Entrekin), William Morrow (2008), page 262Most scholars writing on the mafia were going to great lengths to demonstrate that it did not exist—and the mobsters wanted to keep their brotherhood secret.
2009, Diego Gambetta, Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate, Princeton University Press, published 2009, →ISBN, page 272Synonyms: bend over backwards, go to the ends of the earth, move heaven and earth
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo make a major effort; to be very careful when doing something, especially to an extreme or excessive degree.
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 不遺餘力 /不遗余力, 竭盡全力 /竭尽全力
- 不遺餘力 /不遗余力 (bùyíyúlì)make a major effort
- 竭盡全力 /竭尽全力 (jiéjìnquánlì)make a major effort
- 死拼 (sǐpīn)make a major effort
Finnish nähdä paljon vaivaa
- nähdä paljon vaivaamake a major effort
Polish dokładać wszelkich starań, dołożyć wszelkich starań
- dokładać wszelkich starańmake a major effort
- dołożyć wszelkich starańmake a major effort
- natrudzić sięmake a major effort
Portuguese não medir esforços, fazer das tripas coração
- não medir esforçosmake a major effort
- fazer das tripas coraçãomake a major effort
Russian стара́ться и́зо всех сил, прилага́ть ма́ксимум уси́лий из ко́жи вон лезть
- стара́ться и́зо всех сил (starátʹsja ízo vsex sil)make a major effort
- прилага́ть ма́ксимум уси́лий из ко́жи вон лезть (prilagátʹ máksimum usílij)make a major effort
- костьми́ лечь (kostʹmí lečʹ)make a major effort
- разбива́ться в лепёшку (razbivátʹsja v lepjóšku)make a major effort
- вывора́чиваться наизна́нку (vyvoráčivatʹsja naiznánku)make a major effort
- рыть зе́млю но́сом (rytʹ zémlju nósom)make a major effort
Turkish varını yoğuna katmak
- varını yoğuna katmakmake a major effort
Cite this entry
go to great lengths. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20to%20great%20lengths
“go to great lengths.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20to%20great%20lengths. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “go to great lengths,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20to%20great%20lengths.
Source: go to great lengths on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.