by a thread

1. see hang by a thread.

Example Sentences

But if this was indeed the end, 99 years since USC and Notre Dame first met on a football field, it would be a particularly crushing finale for the Trojans, who fell 34-24 and now find their hopes of a College Football Playoff bid hanging by a thread.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Among the entrants were sports broadcaster Mark Pougatch, who missed out on a place in the quarter finals "by a thread", losing to Finn Vergalen.

Read more on BBC

On October 5, one drone guided by a thread of optical fibre several-dozen-kilometres-long struck a vehicle in the centre of Kramatorsk, a first for the city.

Read more on Barron's

After dropping Game 1 in their best-of-three set against the Red Sox, their World Series aspirations were left hanging by a thread before the calendar even turned to October.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Players who don't have the manager's back might not strain every last sinew when they know his job is hanging by a thread.

Read more on BBC