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

Thread the chicken onto 6 metal skewers and place the skewers on the wire rack. — Kate Williams, AJC.com, 6 July 2026

Torbert, who will play his senior season at Princeton High School in Cincinnati, decommitted from Indiana in May, setting up a Michigan-Ohio State battle that went down to the wire. — Austin Meek, New York Times, 2 July 2026

Swift and Kelce have certainly kept the world guessing right up to the wire — the wedding of the decade is reportedly a day away, and even THR is going on secondhand intel. — Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 2 July 2026

Once any studio can reach a television over the open internet, owning the wire no longer confers the same advantage over owning the content, and the two businesses no longer share the same reason to sit together. — Maureen Kerr, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026

Rhymes for the wire

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