Idiom
nip and tuck
Meaning
So evenly matched that the advantage shifts from one to the other, and the outcome is uncertain.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The game is nip and tuck right now.”
“The election results are nip and tuck, with neither candidate pulling ahead of the other.”
“Throughout the final set, the match remained nip and tuck, leaving the spectators breathless as the lead changed hands with every point.”
Examples
simple
“The game is nip and tuck right now.”
contextual
“The election results are nip and tuck, with neither candidate pulling ahead of the other.”
complex
“Throughout the final set, the match remained nip and tuck, leaving the spectators breathless as the lead changed hands with every point.”
Origin
Of unknown origin. First use appears c. 1845, in the publication American Whig Review.
Key words
Related idioms
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