nip and tuck

Cultural  

1. Closely contested; neck and neck: “It was nip and tuck there for a while, but our team finally pulled through.”

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nip and tuck Idioms  

1. Very close so that the advantage or lead of competitors keeps shifting, as in It was nip and tuck whether they would deal with the bill before Congress adjourned. The precise allusion in this term has been lost. [Early 1800s] Also see neck and neck.

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Example Sentences

It will be nip and tuck all the way, a couple of heavyweights slugging it out right until the final round, when we will find out who the last team standing is.

From BBC • Jun. 13, 2023

“We’ve been nip and tuck on some things, but we’ve always had the same interest and same goal in mind, and that’s winning,” Millsap said at that time of Snyder.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 25, 2021

All of this year’s iPhones had a little nip and tuck along the edges.

From Washington Post • Oct. 14, 2020

From there it was nip and tuck until the death.

From The Guardian • Jun. 14, 2019

They well knew, like everybody else, that it would be nip and tuck to get through; but they felt that they had been honored by the orders.

From Boys' Book of Frontier Fighters by Sabin, Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand)