English · Idiom Candidate

by no stretch of the imagination

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

But in David Souter's court — and by no stretch of the imagination is this William Rehnquist's court — whoever replaces Byron White will have little choice but to be a judge first, and a politician a very distant second.

Because by no stretch of the imagination would Ven ever come to love her!

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review.

Common questions

What does “by no stretch of the imagination” mean?

Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.

Is “by no stretch of the imagination” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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