clock ticking
Seconds slipping away
The sound a clock makes as its mechanism advances, marking the passage of seconds.
Figuratively, the clock is ticking signals that time is running out—a deadline approaches or an opportunity is closing: With the clock ticking on negotiations, both sides felt the pressure.
The phrase evokes urgency, often with anxiety about diminishing time.
- secondsTime units, or extras
- countdownBackward enumeration to zero
- timeMeasured passage of moments
- race against timeUrgent struggle before deadline
- watchPortable timekeeping device
pendulum · rhythm · heartbeat · metronome · urgent · deadline · crunch time · eleventh hour · running out of time · bomb · borrowed time · suspense · hands · minutes · pulse · steady · mechanical · chime
- everyday soundsdoorbell, phone ring, dog barking, footsteps, door slam
- ambient soundsrain, wind, ocean, thunder rumble, crickets
- sound effectssound effects, sound effect, ringtone, boing, crash
- time pressurerush, rushed, urgency, no time to lose, deadline
- school soundsbell, school bell, buzzer, chatter, whisper
- film techniquesdolly zoom, closeup, close-up, fade, wide shot
clock tickingsilence
Total lack of sound
dead silence · stillness · quiet · soundlessness · hush
clock tickingtimelessness
Freedom from temporal decay
eternity · leisure · no rush · open-ended · frozen moment
clock, ticking, clocks, clocked, clocking, clockwise, clockwork, tick, ticks