in the balance
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.
In the world of high stakes sporting events where everything and everyone hangs in the balance on outcome and fair play, video replay is essential to getting calls right.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
“I feel also sorry for the United States,” Solbakken said, “because if they win, that will always hang in the balance for it.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
It’s to experience the visceral thrill and nerve-shredding tension that occurs when two genuine powers square off, with the promise of history-making triumph, individual glory and intense national humiliation all hanging in the balance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
Iran drew their final Group G match 1-1 with Egypt to leave their hopes of reaching the last 32 in the balance.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
Many years earlier he’d been a young man behind the wheel, momentarily distracted, with a life hanging in the balance.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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.
