phrase🎓 English idiom

by the skin of your teeth

just barely

What it means

By the narrowest possible margin; only just managing to succeed or escape. It emphasises how close a person came to failing or to disaster.

Examples

  • We caught the last train by the skin of our teeth, jumping on as the doors closed.
  • She passed the exam by the skin of her teeth, scoring just one mark above the limit.
  • The team won by the skin of their teeth with a goal in the final second.
  • I finished the report by the skin of my teeth, sending it minutes before the deadline.

Where it comes from

From the Book of Job in the Bible ("I am escaped with the skin of my teeth"); since teeth have no skin, it expresses the slimmest of margins.

Related idioms

#a long shot#out of the frying pan into the fire#hit rock bottom#miss the boat

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