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3. go a long way toward

go a long way toward

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go a long way toward something

also go a long way to something

to be very helpful in achieving something The fire insurance went a long way toward repairing all the damage. The extra money will go a long way to buying a house.

See also: long, toward, way

go a long way toward

Have considerable effect or influence on. For example, This argument goes a long way toward proving the scientists are wrong, or, as Eudora Welty put it in The Ponder Heart (1954): "It went a long way toward making him touchy about what Uncle Daniel had gone and done." This idiom, then put as go a great way toward, was first recorded in 1697.

See also: long, toward, way