not be able to hit the broad side of a barn
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To be very inaccurate or inept at something
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
rất không chính xác hoặc kém cỏi trong việc gì
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: unable to hit the large side of a barn
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He's so bad at basketball, he can't even hit the broad side of a barn
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “not be able to hit the broad side of a barn” mean?
To be very inaccurate or inept at something Literally: unable to hit the large side of a barn
Is “not be able to hit the broad side of a barn” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.