a race against time

idiomatic phrase

variants or a race against the clock

: a situation in which something must happen or be done quickly because little time is available

Divers pulling the 12 boys and their soccer coach from the cave were in a race against time, with the threat of rains making an already difficult rescue even more urgent.

—Richard C. Paddock and Muktita Suhartono

… as everyone argued back and forth about whether to enter arbitration …, the issue of time came up. For some in the group, this was a race against the clock due to their illnesses and the need for medical treatment.

—Steven Allen Bruce

Examples of a race against time in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Faced with critical skepticism and mounting debts, The Bear is in a race against time to regain its momentum. —Alison Herman, Variety, 26 June 2025

Whale shark tagging, afterall, is a race against time. —Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes.com, 9 May 2025

Trump’s victory set in motion a race against time by President Biden to safeguard his environmental legacy. —Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 23 Dec. 2024

So begins a race against time to preemptively solve her own murder. —Laura Thompson, New York Times, 22 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1814, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for a race against time

• aforetime
• allozyme
• anytime
• christmastime
• cybercrime
• dinnertime
• guggenheim
• isozyme
• lysozyme
• maritime
• mesenchyme
• overtime