close, but no cigar

Meaning: (idiomatic,originallyUS,colloquial)Used to indicate that one isalmostcorrector has almostsucceeded, butnot quite.[from early 20th c.]Synonyms:almost doesn't count,a miss is as good as a mileBetty ran all out in the sprint race; yet, it wasclose, but no cigar.1929July 2,J. C. R., “’28’s First”, inAsa S[mith] Bushnell [III], editor,Princeton Alumni Weekly, volume XXIX, number36, Princeton, N.J.:Princeton University Press,→ISSN,→OCLC,page1166, column 2:The long distance trophy [for alumni who had traveled the furthest to attend the reunion], an appropriately inscribed silver cigarette case, was awarded to Em Gooch who had made the trip from Lincoln, Neb. for the occasion. Several other members cameclose, but no cigar, and we trust that all those in New York and Philadelphia who failed to show up, without reason, will read these lines with a quiver.

Examples:

EN: I came this close, but no cigar.
ES: He estado cerca, pero ni premio ni puro.
EN: Oh, close, but no cigar.
ES: Cerca pero no ganaste.
EN: close, but no cigar.
ES: Muy cerca, pero sin puro.
EN: - The "close, but no cigar" deal with Angel.
ES: - Estás con él, pero no se acuestan.
EN: As the old man would say, close, but no cigar.
ES: Como diría el viejo, cerca, pero no hay cigarro.
EN: It was close, but no cigar.
ES: Estuvo cerca, pero no fue posible.
EN: Close, close, but no cigar.
ES: Cerca, cerca, pero sin puro.
EN: Ahhhh ... close, but no cigar
HI: बंद करें लेकिन कोई गिटार नहीं
EN: So they're close, but no cigar.
HI: यह करीब है, कोई सिगार नहीं।
EN: Well, they're close, but no cigar.
HI: यह करीब है, कोई सिगार नहीं।
EN: Well, close, but no cigar...
HI: बंद करें लेकिन कोई गिटार नहीं
EN: There was close, but no cigar.
HI: यह करीब है, कोई सिगार नहीं।
EN: It is close, but no cigar.
HI: यह करीब है, कोई सिगार नहीं।
EN: So, close, but no cigar...
HI: बंद करें लेकिन कोई गिटार नहीं
EN: It may well be close, but no cigar:)
HI: देहाती हो सकती हूँ, लेकिन गँवार नहीं:)

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).