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 figuratively

The election went/came (right) down to the wire.

Examples of the wire in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

When that happens, the wire’s performance degrades, and its current-carrying capacity drops sharply. — Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 25 Sep. 2026

The first round goes down to the wire and the final ends with the Cardinals’ Jordan Walker hitting six straight homers to beat the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber. — Dan Horn, Cincinnati Enquirer, 20 Sep. 2026

The latest word on the wire is the parties could have an agreement before the official start of Yom Kippur this weekend. — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 19 Sep. 2026

But Californians are narrowly divided on the wealth tax, and passage could come down to the wire when voters cast ballots in November. — Jason Ma, Fortune, 19 Sep. 2026

Rhymes for the wire

• briar
• brier
• buyer
• choir
• crier
• cryer
• drier
• dryer
• eyer
• flier
• flyer
• friar