come a long way
To make significant progress. Almost always used in the present perfect tense ("have/has come a long way"). He can play entire songs now, and they sound pretty good! He's really come a long way from when he could barely hold a guitar. The medical field has come an awfully long way since the days of bloodletting! You drove all the way from Philly to the Jersey Shore? Wow, I remember when you were too anxious to get behind the wheel. You've sure come a long way!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
come a long way
Make considerable progress or improvement, as in That's good, Rob-you've certainly come a long way. This usage, which transfers the "distance" of a long way to progress, gained considerable currency in the 1960s and 1970s in an advertising slogan for Virginia Slims cigarettes addressed especially to women: "You've come a long way, baby."
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.