by the skin of one's teeth

by the skin of one's teeth

English

Etymology

• From Job 19.20. "My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth."

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

by the skin of one's teeth

1. (idiomatic) barely; closely; by a narrow margin; with nothing to spare.

   I passed the test by the skin of my teeth.

   • 2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 57:

     I would have liked to have hung around in Birmingham, but my connections are tight owing to a points failure, and I make the CrossCountry Class 170 to Derby by the skin of my teeth.

   Synonym: by a hair's breadth

Translations

barely, closely

Catalan: pels pèls Danish: på et hængende hår Finnish: nipin napin (fi) French: (Canada) par la peau des dents (fr), (colloquial) d’un poil (fr), par le chas de l'aiguille, de justesse (fr), (rare) à fleur de corde (fr) German: mit knapper Not (de); mit Mühe und Not (de); um Haaresbreite; mit Ach und Krach (de) (informal); mit Hängen und Würgen (de) (informal) Greek: παρά τρίχα (el) (pará trícha) Irish: idir cleith agus ursain Italian: per un pelo, per il rotto della cuffia Latvian: par mata tiesu Norwegian: Bokmål: på hengende håret Portuguese: por um fio, por um triz (pt) Russian: е́ле (ru) (jéle), е́ле-е́ле (ru) (jéle-jéle), едва́ (ru) (jedvá), едва́-едва́ (ru) (jedvá-jedvá), наси́лу (ru) (nasílu) Scots: by a bawhair Scottish Gaelic: air èiginn Spanish: con las justas, dejando pelos en la gatera (colloquial), por el canto de un duro (colloquial; dated), por un pelo Swedish: på håret (sv) Thai: เส้นยาแดงผ่าแปด (th) Westrobothnian: ytterste halle

See also

• close shave

Further reading

• skin of my teeth on Wikipedia.Wikipedia