A shot in the dark is a guess made with no facts or clues. Naming the photographer of a picture you've never seen, or estimating sales without any figures: that's a shot in the dark. You can still be right, but you had nothing to base it on. People often say it modestly before guessing: This is a shot in the dark, but...
When would you say a shot in the dark?
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be a shot in the dark; take a shot in the dark
- Naming the photographer was a shot in the dark; I had never seen the picture before.
- Without any sales figures, my estimate is just a shot in the dark.
- I took a shot in the dark and guessed that the key belonged to the attic.
What changed
First versionWithout any clues, my answer was a shot in dark.
RevisionWithout any clues, my answer was a shot in the dark.
In dark sounds like a general state, like in darkness, so the drops out. But the idiom says the dark: a shot in the dark. The was added, and the expression became correct.
A long shot is an attempt with little chance of success, even when you know what to do: Winning the lottery is a long shot. A shot in the dark is a guess without information. An educated guess is the opposite, a guess based on knowledge: My estimate is an educated guess based on last year.
Your turn
You have no information to base your guess on. It is a shot in the ___.
Show the answer
dark — The idiom is a shot in the dark, a shot fired in darkness. Sky might feel natural for a wild guess, but it isn't part of this expression.
Write about a time you tried to guess an answer, a price or a name with no clues at all.
My guess about the repair cost was a shot in the dark because I had not seen the damage.
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