Meaning
- it remains the same regardless of how you view it.
- used to say when making a choice is difficult because all are equal.
You can also use it to mean that two ways of doing something will bring similar results, so no way is greater than the other. People use this idiom when they cannot choose between two things or actions since they are equal. Its synonyms are another, equal, and equivalent.
Example Sentences
- Can we go today or tomorrow? It is as broad as it is long, so you choose.
- Do you prefer the blue or green sofa? It is as broad as it is long, and I will only have it for a year.
- We can fill the tank now or wait until later. It's as broad as it is long, seeing that we will have to fill it anyways.
- Emmy couldn't decide between the two wedding dresses. The choice was as broad as it is long.
- Arthur couldn't select which formal suit to purchase; he supposed the choice was just about as broad as it was long.
Origin
The idiom "as broad as it is long" was posted in October 2009 by Victoria S Dennis in response to S Baker, who was asking about the meaning of this expression. The idiom simply means that arguments of both sides of what is being discussed are of the same value.
A phrase with the same meaning is six of one and half a dozen of the other. These two phrases do not have a named originator. But as broad as it is long had already been established in 1984 since it first appeared in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable in this year.
