Meaning & use
nick of time
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiom
The very last moment before something would have been too late, used to say that something happened just in time.
Grammar: Used in the fixed form in the nick of time, usually after a verb: we arrived in the nick of time.
Patterns
- arrive in the nick of time
- save someone in the nick of time
- in the nick of time
The ambulance reached the house in the nick of time.
She pressed send on the application in the nick of time, a few seconds before the portal closed.
The rain held off until we got the tent up in the nick of time.
Common combinations
- arrive in the nick of time
- The bus arrived in the nick of time, and we caught our connection.
- rescue someone in the nick of time
- A passing sailor rescued the swimmer in the nick of time.
- finish in the nick of time
- We finished the report in the nick of time, minutes before the meeting.
- get there in the nick of time
- I got there in the nick of time to say goodbye.
- just in the nick of time
- The goalkeeper stretched out and blocked the shot just in the nick of time.
Synonyms and how they differ
- just in time
- Just in time is plainer and neutral, while in the nick of time adds a sense of drama and narrow escape.
- at the last minute
- At the last minute only says something happened late, and it does not promise that it worked out, unlike the nick of time.
- with seconds to spare
- With seconds to spare stresses how small the margin was in a measurable way, while the nick of time is more of a figure of speech.
Opposites
Word family
- nick noun
- an old sense meaning the exact critical moment, which survives mainly in this phrase
Commonly confused: nick of time or knick-knack?
nick of time vs knick-knack
A knick-knack is a small ornament and has no link to timing, though the first sound is the same.
Practice
The firefighters pulled the boy from the room ____, just before the ceiling fell.
Choose one answer.
The fixed idiom uses the preposition in. The other prepositions are never used in this expression.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “nick of time”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.