the wire
noun
US
: a thin piece of string that the winner of a race breaks through at the end of the race
The marathon ended in a sprint to the wire by the two top runners.
—often used figurativelyThe election went/came (right) down to the wire.
Examples of the wire in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Mother's Day is just a few short days away -- Sunday, May 12 -- and gift-buying time is down to the wire.
—
Kelsey Chapman, ABC News, 8 May 2024
After negotiations went down to the wire Sunday, Condé Nast has reached a tentative deal with a union representing hundreds of its workers and averted a strike that would have coincided with the Met Gala.
—Katie Kilkenny, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 May 2024
Sierra Leone, the second choice at 9-2 odds, and Forever Young from Japan gave chase and pressured the leader to the wire in front of 156,710 at Churchill Downs.
—CBS News, 4 May 2024
Klimek: Entrants to the Vesuvius Challenge worked right down to the wire.
—Chris Klimek, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 May 2024
This organizer's setup is quick and easy: Simply pull out the pieces and place the wire dividers into the plastic tray.
—Rebecca Jones, Southern Living, 2 May 2024
Passing by a field of thin-looking donkeys on the way home, Ms. Duvall often stops to feed them a couple of slices of sandwich bread through the wire fence.
—Saskia Solomon, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2024
Watch a tiny alternating current flow in the wire, proportional to the electrical activity sensed by the conducting contact.
—Giridhar Kalamangalam, Discover Magazine, 4 Apr. 2024
Sometimes fishing wire is so deeply embedded that the flesh has grown around it, forcing rescuers to reopen wounds to extract the wire.
—Cara Buckley, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2024
Kelsey Chapman, ABC News, 8 May 2024
After negotiations went down to the wire Sunday, Condé Nast has reached a tentative deal with a union representing hundreds of its workers and averted a strike that would have coincided with the Met Gala.
—Katie Kilkenny, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 May 2024
Sierra Leone, the second choice at 9-2 odds, and Forever Young from Japan gave chase and pressured the leader to the wire in front of 156,710 at Churchill Downs.
—CBS News, 4 May 2024
Klimek: Entrants to the Vesuvius Challenge worked right down to the wire.
—Chris Klimek, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 May 2024
This organizer's setup is quick and easy: Simply pull out the pieces and place the wire dividers into the plastic tray.
—Rebecca Jones, Southern Living, 2 May 2024
Passing by a field of thin-looking donkeys on the way home, Ms. Duvall often stops to feed them a couple of slices of sandwich bread through the wire fence.
—Saskia Solomon, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2024
Watch a tiny alternating current flow in the wire, proportional to the electrical activity sensed by the conducting contact.
—Giridhar Kalamangalam, Discover Magazine, 4 Apr. 2024
Sometimes fishing wire is so deeply embedded that the flesh has grown around it, forcing rescuers to reopen wounds to extract the wire.
—Cara Buckley, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'the wire.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near the wire
Cite this Entry
“The wire.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20wire. Accessed 17 May. 2024.
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