See close, but no cigar on Wiktionary
Download JSON data for close, but no cigar meaning in All languages combined (8.8kB)
{
"etymology_text": "Apparently from the practice of giving cigars as prizes at carnivals in the United States in the 20th century; those who did not win would fail to receive a cigar, even if they came close.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "phrase"
},
"expansion": "close, but no cigar",
"name": "head"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"close"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "phrase",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "American English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
"parents": [
"Terms with redundant transliterations",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Betty ran all out in the sprint race; yet, it was close, but no cigar.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1929 July 2, J. C. R., “’28’s First”, in Asa S[mith] Bushnell [III], editor, Princeton Alumni Weekly, volume XXIX, number 36, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1166, column 2",
"text": "The long distance trophy [for alumni who had traveled the furthest to attend the reunion], an appropriately inscribed silver cigarette case, was awarded to Em Gooch who had made the trip from Lincoln, Neb. for the occasion. Several other members came close, but no cigar, and we trust that all those in New York and Philadelphia who failed to show up, without reason, will read these lines with a quiver.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite."
],
"id": "en-close,_but_no_cigar-en-phrase-lZX5WIYZ",
"links": [
[
"almost",
"almost#English"
],
[
"correct",
"correct#Adjective"
],
[
"succeed",
"succeed#English"
],
[
"not quite",
"not quite#English"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, originally US, colloquial) Used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "almost doesn't count"
},
{
"word": "a miss is as good as a mile"
},
{
"word": "close but no cigar"
}
],
"tags": [
"colloquial",
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "功虧一簣"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "gōngkuīyīkuì",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "功亏一篑"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "失之毫釐，差之千里"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"note": "失之毫厘，差之千里 (shīzhīháolí, chàzhīqiānlǐ, literally “a failure of micrometres and centimetres, a discrepancy of a thousand li (five hundred kilometres)”)",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "踏錯一步，滿盤皆輸"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "踏错一步"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "tàcuòyībù, mǎnpánjiēshū",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "满盘皆输"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "lige ved og næsten slår ingen mand af hesten"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "så tæt på og dog så langt fra"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "bijna telt niet"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "het is net niks"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "melkein muttei ihan"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "presque réussi, mais raté"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "knapp daneben ist auch vorbei"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "Dicht daneben ist auch vorbei"
},
{
"code": "id",
"lang": "Indonesian",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "dekat tak tercapai, jauh tak berantara"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "ní fearr Éire ná orlach"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "ci sei quasi"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "oshii",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "惜しい"
},
{
"code": "lv",
"lang": "Latvian",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "gandrīz neskaitās"
},
{
"code": "ms",
"lang": "Malay",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"tags": [
"Jawi"
],
"word": "دکت تق ترچاڤاي, جاءوه تق برانتارا"
},
{
"code": "ms",
"lang": "Malay",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"tags": [
"Rumi"
],
"word": "dekat tak tercapai, jauh tak berantara"
},
{
"code": "no",
"lang": "Norwegian",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "nesten holder ikke"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "prawie robi wielką różnicę"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"tags": [
"Brazil"
],
"word": "bateu na trave"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"tags": [
"Brazil"
],
"word": "passou perto, só que não"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"tags": [
"Brazil"
],
"word": "ficou no quase"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"note": "чуть-чу́ть не счита́ется (čutʹ-čútʹ ne sčitájetsja, literally “‘a little’ doesn't count”)",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"note": "про́мах есть про́мах (prómax jestʹ prómax, literally “a miss is a miss”)",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite"
},
{
"code": "sl",
"lang": "Slovene",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "skoraj še ni zajca ujel"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "de casi no se muere nadie"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "los casis no cuentan"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "nära skjuter ingen hare"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "neredeyse doğru ama tam olarak değil"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈkləʊs bʌt nəʊ sɪˈɡɑː/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈkloʊs bʌt noʊ sɪˈɡɑɹ/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "En-au-close, but no cigar.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/13/En-au-close%2C_but_no_cigar.ogg/En-au-close%2C_but_no_cigar.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/En-au-close%2C_but_no_cigar.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "close, but no cigar"
}
{
"etymology_text": "Apparently from the practice of giving cigars as prizes at carnivals in the United States in the 20th century; those who did not win would fail to receive a cigar, even if they came close.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "phrase"
},
"expansion": "close, but no cigar",
"name": "head"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"close"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "phrase",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"American English",
"English colloquialisms",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English phrases",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with quotations",
"English terms with usage examples",
"Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
"Requests for review of Norwegian translations"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Betty ran all out in the sprint race; yet, it was close, but no cigar.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1929 July 2, J. C. R., “’28’s First”, in Asa S[mith] Bushnell [III], editor, Princeton Alumni Weekly, volume XXIX, number 36, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1166, column 2",
"text": "The long distance trophy [for alumni who had traveled the furthest to attend the reunion], an appropriately inscribed silver cigarette case, was awarded to Em Gooch who had made the trip from Lincoln, Neb. for the occasion. Several other members came close, but no cigar, and we trust that all those in New York and Philadelphia who failed to show up, without reason, will read these lines with a quiver.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite."
],
"links": [
[
"almost",
"almost#English"
],
[
"correct",
"correct#Adjective"
],
[
"succeed",
"succeed#English"
],
[
"not quite",
"not quite#English"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, originally US, colloquial) Used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "almost doesn't count"
},
{
"word": "a miss is as good as a mile"
}
],
"tags": [
"colloquial",
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈkləʊs bʌt nəʊ sɪˈɡɑː/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˈkloʊs bʌt noʊ sɪˈɡɑɹ/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "En-au-close, but no cigar.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/13/En-au-close%2C_but_no_cigar.ogg/En-au-close%2C_but_no_cigar.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/En-au-close%2C_but_no_cigar.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "close but no cigar"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "功虧一簣"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "gōngkuīyīkuì",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "功亏一篑"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "失之毫釐，差之千里"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"note": "失之毫厘，差之千里 (shīzhīháolí, chàzhīqiānlǐ, literally “a failure of micrometres and centimetres, a discrepancy of a thousand li (five hundred kilometres)”)",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "踏錯一步，滿盤皆輸"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "踏错一步"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "tàcuòyībù, mǎnpánjiēshū",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "满盘皆输"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "lige ved og næsten slår ingen mand af hesten"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "så tæt på og dog så langt fra"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "bijna telt niet"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "het is net niks"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "melkein muttei ihan"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "presque réussi, mais raté"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "knapp daneben ist auch vorbei"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "Dicht daneben ist auch vorbei"
},
{
"code": "id",
"lang": "Indonesian",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "dekat tak tercapai, jauh tak berantara"
},
{
"code": "ga",
"lang": "Irish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "ní fearr Éire ná orlach"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "ci sei quasi"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "oshii",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "惜しい"
},
{
"code": "lv",
"lang": "Latvian",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "gandrīz neskaitās"
},
{
"code": "ms",
"lang": "Malay",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"tags": [
"Jawi"
],
"word": "دکت تق ترچاڤاي, جاءوه تق برانتارا"
},
{
"code": "ms",
"lang": "Malay",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"tags": [
"Rumi"
],
"word": "dekat tak tercapai, jauh tak berantara"
},
{
"code": "no",
"lang": "Norwegian",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "nesten holder ikke"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "prawie robi wielką różnicę"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"tags": [
"Brazil"
],
"word": "bateu na trave"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"tags": [
"Brazil"
],
"word": "passou perto, só que não"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"tags": [
"Brazil"
],
"word": "ficou no quase"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"note": "чуть-чу́ть не счита́ется (čutʹ-čútʹ ne sčitájetsja, literally “‘a little’ doesn't count”)",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"note": "про́мах есть про́мах (prómax jestʹ prómax, literally “a miss is a miss”)",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite"
},
{
"code": "sl",
"lang": "Slovene",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "skoraj še ni zajca ujel"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "de casi no se muere nadie"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "los casis no cuentan"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "nära skjuter ingen hare"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "used to indicate that one is almost correct or has almost succeeded, but not quite",
"word": "neredeyse doğru ama tam olarak değil"
}
],
"word": "close, but no cigar"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (a644e18 and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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