skin of teeth
Narrowly avoiding failure
By the skin of one's teeth means just barely, by the narrowest possible margin: She passed the exam by the skin of one's teeth.
The phrase comes from the Book of Job, where the speaker escapes with nothing left—teeth having no skin, the margin of survival is essentially zero.
We made it to the airport by the skin of our teeth.
- narrowOf small width
- narrow escapeBarely avoiding disaster
- escapeFlight from captivity
- closeNearby or to shut
- close callDisaster narrowly averted
barely · just barely · scrape · margin · razor thin · luck · whisker · by a whisker · hair · shave · squeak · photo finish · dodge · survive · nick of time · brink · edge · miss
- close callsclose call, near miss, narrow escape, close shave, nick of time
- narrow marginsphoto finish, squeaker, cliff-hanger, razor thin, neck and neck
skin of teethby a mile
by a landslide · hands down · by a wide margin · in a walk · decisively
skin of teetheasily
Without difficulty
effortlessly · with ease · smoothly · without breaking a sweat · readily
skin of teethassuredly
With full certainty
beyond doubt · without question · safely · securely · with confidence
skin, skins, skinned, skinning, skinny, skinnier, skinniest, skinniness, teeth