on borrowed time
Days are numbered
Living or operating beyond the point when failure, death, or ending was expected.
Someone on borrowed time has outlasted their natural limit—a patient who survives past a terminal prognosis, a business that should have collapsed, a politician who's lost support but hasn't been removed.
The phrase implies the extension is temporary and precarious: At ninety-three, she knew she was on borrowed time.
The company has been on borrowed time since the scandal broke.
- countdownBackward enumeration to zero
- fleetingPassing very quickly
- hourglassGravity-powered sand timer
- deadlineTime limit for completion
- terminalAt the endpoint
one foot in the grave · fading · precarious · last legs · ticking · dwindling · fragile · expiring · end of the line · reprieve · grace period · eleventh hour · sunset · twilight · desperate · urgent · slipping away · final chapter
- time pressurerush, against the clock, rushed, clock is ticking, urgency
- risk phrasestake a chance, take a gamble, risk it all, go for broke, roll the dice
on borrowed timehere to stay
Established for good
permanent · secure · firmly established · built to last · enduring
on borrowed timeon solid ground
well-established · holding all the cards · tenured · vested · in good standing
on borrowed timegoing strong
Continuing vigorously, undiminished
full of life · thriving · flourishing · on the rise · vital
borrow, borrowed, borrowing, borrower, borrowers, borrows, time, times, timed