skin of the teeth
Narrowly, by nothing
By the skin of one's teeth means just barely, by the narrowest possible margin: She passed the exam by the skin of her teeth.
The phrase suggests success so close to failure that only something as thin as the nonexistent skin on teeth separates the two outcomes.
From a passage in the Book of Job.
- close shaveNarrow escape from harm
- barelyOnly just, almost not
- near missNarrowly averted incident
- close callDisaster narrowly averted
- by a whiskerBy the slimmest margin
just barely · scarcely · hanging by a thread · too close for comfort · slip · touch-and-go · edge · scratch · nick · on the brink · minimally · scrape · scraping by · marginally · hair's breadth · photo finish · graze · borderline
skin of the teethby a mile
hands down · decisive victory · blowout · romp · cakewalk
skin of the teethwith ease
effortlessly · handily · without breaking a sweat · easily · breezily
skin, skins, skinned, skinning, skinny, skinner, teeth, toothless, toothy