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Close but no Cigar (Origin)
What Is the Origin of the Saying "Close but no Cigar"?
The term "close but no cigar" means to almost accomplish a goal then fall short.Table of Contents
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Examples of Use:
- He came close but no cigar in the race, finishing in second place.
- She answered most of the questions correctly, but close but no cigar – she missed the final one.
- The team put up a good fight, but in the end, it was close but no cigar as they fell short of victory.
- He nearly reached his fundraising goal, but close but no cigar – he still needed a bit more to achieve it.
- The puzzle was challenging, and he solved most of it, but close but no cigar – a few pieces were missing.
"Close, but no cigar" has only come into common use since the 1970s (evidence). From a grammatical perspective, it is a sentence fragment as it lacks both a subject and a verb.
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