Not by any stretch of the imagination

Pro Tip 1/3

Use it to express a very strong or emphatic denial about something's possibility or truth.

He couldn't have solved that puzzle, not by any stretch of the imagination.

Pro Tip 2/3

Understand it's an idiom; knowing individual word meanings doesn't convey its full sense.

That old car won’t win a race, not by any stretch of the imagination.

Pro Tip 3/3

It often conveys the speaker's strong feelings or convictions about the statement.

This isn't a good decision, not by any stretch of the imagination.