in the long run

[thru]

Hi,

I would like to know what 'in the long run' means and when to use the phrase. Can it be replaced with 'in the end'?

Many thanks.

[Harry Smith]

Originally Posted by thru

Hi,

I would like to know what 'in the long run' means and when to use the phrase. Can it be replaced with 'in the end'?

Many thanks.

in the long run

Over a lengthy period of time, in the end. For example, He realized that in the long run, their argument wouldn't seem so awful. This expression, which originated as at the long run in the early 1600s, presumably alludes to a runner who continues on his course to the end. Economist John Maynard Keynes used it in a much-quoted quip about economic planning: "In the long run we are all dead." The antonym, in the short run, meaning "over a short period of time," dates only from the 1800s. The novelist George Eliot used both in a letter (October 18, 1879): "Mrs. Healy's marriage is surely what you expected in the long or short run."

[thru]

Hi Harry,
Thank you for your comment. I am afraid I still cannot understand what it means. And when we can use the expression and does it mean the same as 'in the end'?

[Harry Smith]

Originally Posted by thru

Hi Harry,
Thank you for your comment. I am afraid I still cannot understand what it means. And when we can use the expression and does it mean the same as 'in the end'?

Why not!

[thru]

Hi,
I cannot figure out if 'in the end' and 'in the long run' have the same or different meaning, here are two examples with the expression 'in the end' from online dictionary, I wonder if we can use 'in the long run' instead.

1.They got bored and went home in the end/in the long run.

2.In the end/In the long run we decided to cancel the trip.

Many thanks