by the skin of one's teeth
Narrowly avoiding failure
By the skin of one's teeth describes barely succeeding or narrowly escaping something undesirable.
The phrase suggests the thinnest possible margin—teeth don't actually have skin, so the image conveys an almost impossibly close call.
We made our flight by the skin of our teeth.
She passed the exam by the skin of her teeth.
The expression comes from the Book of Job, where it describes a narrow escape from death.
- close shaveNarrow escape from harm
- near missNarrowly averted incident
- hair's breadthInfinitesimal distance or margin
- photo finishRace decided by camera
- touch-and-goUncertain and risky
down to the wire · relief · hanging by a thread · anxiety · cliffhanger · disbelief · precariousness · just in time · by a whisker · dodging a bullet · skating on thin ice · white knuckle · pulling through · tension · nervousness · adrenaline rush · overcoming adversity · narrow escape
by the skin of one's teethby a landslide
Winning by huge margin
by a mile · hands down · in a walk · by a wide margin · comfortably
by the skin of one's teetheasily
Without difficulty
effortlessly · with ease · without breaking a sweat · smoothly · like clockwork
skins, skinned, skinning, skinny, teeth, teethe, teethed, teething, toothless