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

Buchanan was not immediately available for comment when contacted on LinkedIn, according to the wire service. — Edward Segal, Forbes.com, 11 July 2026

Part of this year's success off the wire rests with one of the more on-the-nose tropes — add Colorado Rockies. — John Laghezza, New York Times, 10 July 2026

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

Rhymes for the wire

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