Dic/ come a long way, go a long way

─ If you say that someone or something has come a long way, you mean that they have developed, progressed, or become very successful.

• He has come a long way since the days he could only afford one meal a day.
• Microwave ovens have come a long way (= have developed or improved a lot) since they first appeared in our kitchens.

• (cf) The team has a long way to go (= needs to develop or improve a lot) before it can match that performance.

─ If you say that something goes a long way towards doing a particular thing, you mean that it is an important factor in achieving that thing.

• Although by no means a cure, it goes a long way towards making the patient's life more tolerable.

─ go some (a long) way towards doing sth: to help a little (a lot) to make something happen.
─ go a long way toward/to something: to be very helpful in achieving something.
─ go a long way toward: have considerable effect or influence on.

• ideas that go some way towards reducing environmental problems
• The fire insurance went a long way toward repairing all the damages.
• The extra money will go a long way to buying a house.
• This argument goes a long way toward proving the scientists are wrong.
• It went a long way toward making him touchy about what Uncle Daniel had gone and done.

.... COBUILD, LDOCE, Cambridge/American Heritage Idioms, ..