long time no see
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Not seen in a long time.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Well, well, well, this is long time no see, soul!’
‘ Martha,’ Brendan says, his voice rich and warm, ‘ long time, no see.’
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. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “long time no see” mean?
Not seen in a long time.
Is “long time no see” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.