Meaning & use
by a nose
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Meanings
phraseidiom
Winning or losing by an extremely small amount, so that the result is almost a tie.
Grammar: Comes after a verb such as win, lose, beat or miss: she won by a nose.
Patterns
- win something by a nose
- lose by a nose
- beat someone by a nose
Our relay team won the final by a nose, with only a hundredth of a second between the two teams.
The champion lost by a nose after a photo finish that took the judges several minutes to decide.
She beat her closest rival by a nose in the vote for class president.
phraseidiomfigurative
Used about a situation decided by a very narrow margin, not only in sports.
Grammar: Often follows verbs like pass, miss or escape when the outcome was almost different.
Patterns
- pass something by a nose
- miss something by a nose
The new law passed by a nose, with just one more vote in favor than against.
We missed the train by a nose and had to wait an hour for the next one.
Common combinations
- win by a nose
- The gray horse won by a nose in the last few meters of the race.
- lose by a nose
- He lost by a nose after leading for most of the race.
- beat someone by a nose
- The visiting team beat the home side by a nose in extra time.
- pass by a nose
- The budget passed by a nose, so the debate continues.
- miss by a nose
- The arrow missed the target by a nose and landed in the grass.
Synonyms and how they differ
- by a whisker
- Almost the same meaning and tone, also from racing; it is common in British English and sounds slightly more informal.
- narrowly
- A single adverb that fits many contexts and is more neutral and formal than the idiom.
- barely
- Focuses on how little separated the result, but it does not suggest a competition the way 'by a nose' does.
Opposites
Commonly confused: by a nose or by a hair?
by a nose vs by a hair
Very similar in meaning, but it usually describes a narrow escape rather than a narrow win: we escaped by a hair.
Practice
The two swimmers touched the wall at almost the same moment, and our team won ______.
Choose one answer.
'By a nose' means winning by a tiny margin, which matches touching the wall at almost the same moment. 'By a mile' means winning easily, the opposite idea. 'By the nose' belongs to the unrelated phrase 'lead someone by the nose', and 'on the nose' means exactly or precisely.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “by a nose”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.