Meanings
- idiomaticA limited distance, literal or metaphorical.
Don’t expect a long walk. You can only go so far in that direction.
2 more examples
As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could.
1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLCBritish journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.
2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbUntil now; previously; yet.
More synonyms by meaning
adverbused in negative statement to describe a situation that has existed up to this point or up to the present time
adverbto the degree or extent that
adverbused after a superlative
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Compound of so + far. Compare Dutch zo ver.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic حَتَّى الْآنَ
- حَتَّى الْآنَ (ḥattā l-ʔāna)until now; previously; yet
Bulgarian досега́
- досега́ (dosegá)until now; previously; yet
Catalan fins ara
- fins arauntil now; previously; yet
Chinese Mandarin 到目前為止 /到目前为止, 迄今
- 到目前為止 /到目前为止 (dào mùqián wéizhǐ)until now; previously; yet
- 迄今 (qìjīn)until now; previously; yet
- 迄今為止 /迄今为止 (qìjīn wéizhǐ)until now; previously; yet
- 至今 (zhìjīn)until now; previously; yet
Czech doposud, až dosud
- doposuduntil now; previously; yet
- až dosuduntil now; previously; yet
Danish hidtil
- hidtiluntil now; previously; yet
Dutch tot nu toe, tot zover
- tot nu toeuntil now; previously; yet
- tot zoveruntil now; previously; yet
- tot dusveruntil now; previously; yet
- totnogtoeuntil now; previously; yet
- tot hiertoeuntil now; previously; yet
Finnish tähän mennessä, toistaiseksi
- tähän mennessäuntil now; previously; yet
- toistaiseksiuntil now; previously; yet
French jusqu'à maintenant, jusqu'à présent
- jusqu'à maintenantuntil now; previously; yet
- jusqu'à présentuntil now; previously; yet
- jusqu'alorsuntil now; previously; yet
German bislang, bisher
- bislanguntil now; previously; yet
- bisheruntil now; previously; yet
- bis jetztuntil now; previously; yet
Hebrew עד כה
- עד כהuntil now; previously; yet
Hungarian idáig, eddig
- idáiguntil now; previously; yet
- eddiguntil now; previously; yet
- mindeddiguntil now; previously; yet
- mostanáiguntil now; previously; yet
Icelandic hingað til
- hingað tiluntil now; previously; yet
Irish go dtí seo
- go dtí seountil now; previously; yet
Italian finora
- finorauntil now; previously; yet
Japanese 今まで, これまで
- 今まで (ima-made)until now; previously; yet
- これまで (kore-made)until now; previously; yet
- これまでのところ (kore-made-no tokoro)until now; previously; yet
Korean 여태, 지금까지
- 여태 (yeotae)until now; previously; yet
- 지금까지 (jigeumkkaji)until now; previously; yet
Latin adhūc, hactenus
- adhūcuntil now; previously; yet
- hactenusuntil now; previously; yet
- dumtaxatuntil now; previously; yet
Lithuanian iki šiol
- iki šioluntil now; previously; yet
Norwegian Bokmål hittil, så langt
- hittiluntil now; previously; yet
- så langtuntil now; previously; yet
- til nåuntil now; previously; yet
- inntil nåuntil now; previously; yet
- enn så lengeuntil now; previously; yet
Persian تاکنون
- تاکنون (tâkonun)until now; previously; yet
Polish dotychczas, dotąd
- dotychczasuntil now; previously; yet
- dotąduntil now; previously; yet
Portuguese até agora
- até agorauntil now; previously; yet
Russian пока́ что, до сих по́р
- пока́ что (poká što)until now; previously; yet
- до сих по́р (do six pór)until now; previously; yet
- пока́ (poká)until now; previously; yet
- на да́нный моме́нт (na dánnyj momént)until now; previously; yet
- на настоя́щий моме́нт (na nastojáščij momént)until now; previously; yet
- пре́жде (préžde)until now; previously; yet
- поны́не (ponýne)until now; previously; yet
- доны́не (donýne)until now; previously; yet
Scottish Gaelic thuige seo
- thuige seountil now; previously; yet
Slovak doposiaľ, doteraz
- doposiaľuntil now; previously; yet
- doterazuntil now; previously; yet
Spanish hasta ahora, hasta la fecha
- hasta ahorauntil now; previously; yet
- hasta la fechauntil now; previously; yet
- hasta aquíuntil now; previously; yet
- hasta el momentountil now; previously; yet
Swahili hadi sasa
- hadi sasauntil now; previously; yet
Swedish hittills, än så länge
- hittillsuntil now; previously; yet
- än så längeuntil now; previously; yet
Ukrainian поки що, до́сі
- поки що (poky ščo)until now; previously; yet
- до́сі (dósi)until now; previously; yet
- поки́ (poký)until now; previously; yet
- нара́зі (narázi)until now; previously; yet
- на да́ний моме́нт (na dányj momént)until now; previously; yet
- на сього́дні (na sʹohódni)until now; previously; yet
Welsh hyd yn hyn
- hyd yn hynuntil now; previously; yet
Cite this entry
so far. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/so%20far
“so far.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/so%20far. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “so far,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/so%20far.
Source: so far on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.