by a whisker
Just barely making
By a whisker means by a very small margin—barely, just narrowly.
The image is of a distance so slight it might be measured by the width of a whisker: She won the race by a whisker.
Often describes close competitions or near misses: He escaped disaster by a whisker.
- close shaveNarrow escape from harm
- near missNarrowly averted incident
- squeakerBarely-won contest
- down to the wireUnresolved until the final moment
- touch-and-goUncertain and risky
skin of your teeth · razor-thin · nail-biter · too close for comfort · barely · cliffhanger · photo finish · hair's breadth · hair · hanging by a thread · just barely · nick of time · teeter · graze · marginal · close · thread · negligible
- close callsclose call, near miss, narrow escape, close shave, nick of time
- close winsphoto finish, buzzer beater, squeaker, nail biter, close call
- Down to the Wirelast minute, nail-biter, photo finish, close call, eleventh hour
by a whiskerby a landslide
Winning by huge margin
by a mile · by a wide margin · hands down · overwhelmingly · decisively
by a whiskereasily
Without difficulty
comfortably · effortlessly · with ease · handily · without breaking a sweat