shaggy-dog story

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Licorice Pizza”: Paul Thomas Anderson’s shaggy-dog story of self-discovery in ’70s San Fernando Valley feels to me like a loose, easy-breathing culmination for Anderson, a virtuoso filmmaker here at his most tender and organic.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 8, 2021

I wouldn’t have dared say that out loud, but even then, I think, I somehow sensed that this was a climax that wouldn’t provide much resolution, a space-age shaggy-dog story.

From The New Yorker • Jul. 18, 2019

Waits has the film’s funniest lines, especially in the course of delivering a shaggy-dog story over drinks in a dimly lit bar.

From Washington Post • Oct. 2, 2018

As anti-comedy, the shaggy-dog story congratulates the audience for being in on the absence of a joke.

From New York Times • Aug. 30, 2018

You heard that big, long shaggy-dog story about exactly what happened and where everybody was supposed to have been at the time.

From Murder in the Gunroom by Piper, H. Beam