the stretch

noun

: the final straight part of a racecourse before the finish line

the horses are in the (final) stretch

—often used figuratively

She's in the final stretch. The baby's due next month.

They will wind up the season with a winning record having won some crucial games down the stretch.

Examples of the stretch in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Pope hit a monster triple from the corner put the Horns up 75-68 with 1 minute, 29 seconds left and after Vokietaitis final miss, Mark calmly sunk four straight throws down the stretch to keep the Horns in the tournament. —Cedric Golden, Austin American Statesman, 20 Mar. 2026

Maddy Skorupski scored 19 points for the Phoenix (25-9), who simply ran out of steam against the relentless Gophers defense down the stretch. —CBS News, 20 Mar. 2026

Siena looked gassed down the stretch, as Duke went on a 15-4 run to take the lead and close-out the game. —Andrew Greif, NBC news, 20 Mar. 2026

Johnston nailed multiple clutch 3-pointers down the stretch, scoring 14 points off the bench and going 4-6 from behind the arc. —Ryan Canfield, FOXNews.com, 19 Mar. 2026

Rhymes for the stretch

• etch
• fetch
• fletch
• ketch
• sketch
• vetch
• wretch