by a thread
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The ’80s, ’90s and 2000s are rightly at 8, 9 and 10, but watch out, ’70s on 7, you’re hanging by a thread.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
That injury - his third major one in as many years - left his hamstring "hanging on by a thread".
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
With 90 minutes left before his deadline expired, he announced a two-week ceasefire that appears to be hanging by a thread.
From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2026
Then 27th-ranked Italy, in their first World Cup, needed 30 from the last two overs in Kolkata on Monday for a giant-killing that could have left England's World Cup hopes hanging by a thread.
From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026
He was hanging by a thread and not a pretty sight.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
