in the nick of time

idiom

informal

: just before the last moment when something can be changed or something bad will happen

He decided to go just in the nick of time.

The ambulance arrived in the nick of time.

Examples of in the nick of time in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Kirby appeared to put his right hand up to protect his face just in the nick of time, partially blocking the ball’s initial trajectory towards his jaw and slightly deflecting it up near his mouth. —Sean Neumann, People.com, 4 June 2025

The smart clickers that almost killed Ellie and Dina (thank goodness Jesse showed up just in the nick of time!). —Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 19 May 2025

The rebels rescued June and the other Handmaids (plus Ann Dowd’s Aunt Lydia!) from the noose in the nick of time, having already killed a majority of the Commanders after Serena’s (Yvonne Strahovski’s) grotesque wedding. —Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 28 May 2025

Firefighters rescued three people in the nick of time from a sinking boat in the East River on Tuesday night, the FDNY said. —Nicholas Williams, New York Daily News, 25 May 2025

Rhymes for in the nick of time

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