a long story
noun
: a description of how something happened that is complicated to explain
"Why are you late?" "It's a long story. I'll tell you later."
Examples of a long story in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
What’s going on? To make a long story short, OpenAI has trained its primary ChatGPT model, GPT-4o, to act like a sycophant because in the past, people have liked it.
—
ArsTechnica, 21 Apr. 2025
This is a long story, but in short: Osimhen signed a new contract at Napoli a few months after that title success.
—Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2025
The ending is a long story about a woman Wood has been dating and the period when he’s first introduced to her son.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 17 Jan. 2025
Cutting a long story short, a vocal minority of reactionary gamers is perturbed that a sci-fi video game features a Black samurai protagonist, despite the game’s hokey premise centering on the genetic recording of memories written to computer software.
—Lewis Gordon, Vulture, 8 Jan. 2025
To make a long story short, the US monitors recorded a split-second event on March 8, 1968 at 11:59:47 pm that could have been a submarine breaking up.
—David Szondy, New Atlas, 4 Jan. 2025
The City and Its Uncertain Walls, Murakami’s 15th novel, began as a long story published in the literary magazine Bungakukai in 1980.
—Bailey Trela, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024
There are plenty of colourful stories about the exploits of Icelandic bankers at that time, but to cut a long story short, when the global financial crisis struck in October 2008, the Icelandic banking system quickly collapsed.
—Mike O'Sullivan, Forbes, 2 Nov. 2024
Make a long story short, Eddie started doing very nicely taking a late-night bit for us.
—Chet Flippo, Vulture, 3 July 2024
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ArsTechnica, 21 Apr. 2025
This is a long story, but in short: Osimhen signed a new contract at Napoli a few months after that title success.
—Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2025
The ending is a long story about a woman Wood has been dating and the period when he’s first introduced to her son.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 17 Jan. 2025
Cutting a long story short, a vocal minority of reactionary gamers is perturbed that a sci-fi video game features a Black samurai protagonist, despite the game’s hokey premise centering on the genetic recording of memories written to computer software.
—Lewis Gordon, Vulture, 8 Jan. 2025
To make a long story short, the US monitors recorded a split-second event on March 8, 1968 at 11:59:47 pm that could have been a submarine breaking up.
—David Szondy, New Atlas, 4 Jan. 2025
The City and Its Uncertain Walls, Murakami’s 15th novel, began as a long story published in the literary magazine Bungakukai in 1980.
—Bailey Trela, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024
There are plenty of colourful stories about the exploits of Icelandic bankers at that time, but to cut a long story short, when the global financial crisis struck in October 2008, the Icelandic banking system quickly collapsed.
—Mike O'Sullivan, Forbes, 2 Nov. 2024
Make a long story short, Eddie started doing very nicely taking a late-night bit for us.
—Chet Flippo, Vulture, 3 July 2024
Cite this Entry
“A long story.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/a%20long%20story. Accessed 6 May. 2025.
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