cruise to victory

Status
Not open for further replies.

yanx

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
Hi,

What is the opposite of cruise to victory as in Bolt cruised to victory in 100m final?

Thanks!
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
Why should there be a direct opposite? You could lose by a wide margin or something, but winning easily is the opposite of what- coming second or coming last?
 

yanx

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
Why should there be a direct opposite? You could lose by a wide margin or something, but winning easily is the opposite of what- coming second or coming last?

Thanks! But what I meant was the opposite of Cruise to victory, which is something like "difficult victory". I can't find a proper word or phrase. Hopefully you can help me with this.. Thanks again!
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
It was a hard-fought victory.
It was a close call, but he won in the end.
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
Or narrow victory.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
If it looked like the winner was actually going to lose until the very end of the race, you can say "He/she snatched victory from the jaws of defeat".

Rather sarcastically, if someone is in the lead for most of a race and then loses right at the very end, we also say "He snatched defeat from the jaws of victory"!
 

BobK

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Location
Spencers Wood, near Reading, UK
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
There's also the idea of a race going 'down to the wire'. The wire in question is presumably something like the finishing tape that is sometimes used in foot races. But even, say, a Presidential Election can 'go down to the wire'.

Another, is 'it's anybody's race' - but that's more often used in predictions.

b

PS Another one is to say that two competitors are 'neck-and-neck'; I imagine that term comes from horse racing (as a horse can still win a race 'by a neck'). But, although a human runner's neck doesn't stick out (the leading part is the chest, from which we get the expression 'to breast the tape' [=finish first]), it is still accepteble to say that two runners are neck-and-neck.
 
Last edited:

yanx

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
:-D

Thanks very much for all your help!

My feeling is that all the answers are good to me, but I found emsr2d2 and Bobk's answers particularly helpful because they gave me much information. :up: Thanks! If anyone has any other good idea, please tell me and I would highly appreciate it..
 
Last edited:

yanx

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
There's also the idea of a race going 'down to the wire'. The wire in question is presumably something like the finishing tape that is sometimes used in foot races. But even, say, a Presidential Election can 'go down to the wire'.

Another, is 'it's anybody's race' - but that's more often used in predictions.

b

Thanks Bobk! Could you give me a context on how to use "It's anybody's race" as you said?
 

yanx

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
Bobk, thanks for your detailed explanation! I understand!
 

BobK

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Location
Spencers Wood, near Reading, UK
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Thanks Bobk! Could you give me a context on how to use "It's anybody's race" as you said?
Commentary on a distance race - say 3000 metres: 'No one expected it to be this close. Two laps to go, and it's still anybody's race. You could throw a blanket over the leading group.' ('You could throw a blanket over...' =They're all very close together').

b
 

JMurray

Key Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2010
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
English
Home Country
New Zealand
Current Location
Australia
A couple more phrases.
He was pushed all the way but won in a tight finish.
He was challenged throughout the race by his opponent(s) but won by a small margin.

not a teacher
 

yanx

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
A couple more phrases.He was pushed all the way but won in a tight finish.He was challenged throughout the race by his opponent(s) but won by a small margin.not a teacher
Thanks !
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Yanx, your thanks are appreciated, but you don't need to send them in a separate post or to quote our replies back to us.
We are all happy to accept a simple click on the Like button as your acknowledgement of our help.

Rover:-D
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
An extremely close race where it is impossible to tell who won simply by the naked eye, is a "photo-finish". A camera on the finish line takes a rapid series of images (currently 3000 images per second) as people cross the line and is then inspected in detail to see exactly which person crossed the line first.
 

BobK

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Location
Spencers Wood, near Reading, UK
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
On the other hand, a synonym for 'cruise to victory' is 'win at a canter'. A canter is faster than a trot but slower than a gallop; so if you win at a canter you win without much effort - 'without breaking [a] sweat'.

b
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top