long run

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long run (usually uncountable, plural long runs)

1. (idiomatic) An extended period of time.
   • 1923, John Maynard Keynes, chapter 3, in A Tract on Monetary Reform, page 80:

     But this long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead.

   It's a little more work up front, but it will save a lot of time in the long run.

• Almost always preceded by the.

• in the long run