# What does ‘a shot in the dark’ mean?

To “a shot in the dark” means to a wild guess. A modern English idiom; the image is of firing without seeing the target.

## What it means

- A modern English idiom; the image is of firing without seeing the target.

## Action steps

1. Common qualifier before speculation.
2. Example: It's a shot in the dark, but I'd say they'll cut the rate.

## Sources

- [Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — Internet Archive scan](https://archive.org/details/brewers-dictionary-of-phrase-and-fable)

---
Canonical: https://bestidiomanswers.com/answers/a-shot-in-the-dark
Author: Best Idiom Answers — https://bestidiomanswers.com
Publisher: Best Idiom Answers
Published: 2026-07-18T04:16:36.425085+00:00
Modified: 2026-07-18T04:16:36.425085+00:00
Last verified: 2026-07-18
License: Citation License 1.0 — https://bestexpertanswers.com/license
© Adolicious LLC