Word.ws English Dictionary

down to the wire

down to the wire adjective: at the very end of a process or project, especially one with a fast-approaching deadline.

Adjective

down to the wire (not comparable)

  1. (idiomatic) At the very end of a process or project, especially one with a fast-approaching deadline.
    • He was almost done with the paper, but tomorrow's due date meant it would be down to the wire.

Adverb

down to the wire (not comparable)

  1. (idiomatic) At the very end of a process or project, especially one with a fast-approaching deadline.
    • He was almost done with the paper, but tomorrow's due date meant it would come down to the wire.
    • Liverpool created a host of chances and had a Joel Matip goal ruled out for a foul and offside in an incident-packed game that went right down to the wire before Jurgen Klopp's side prevailed.2022 February 27, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport

down to the wire meaning in Tamil

down to the wire in Tamil

முடிவற்ற

Synonyms of down to the wire

Forms of down to the wire

alternative formdown-to-the-wire

Origin of down to the wire

From horse racing: approaching the wire that marks the winning line.

Questions about down to the wire

What does down to the wire mean?
Down to the wire means at the very end of a process or project, especially one with a fast-approaching deadline.
What is down to the wire in Tamil?
Down to the wire in Tamil is முடிவற்ற. See Down to the wire meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is down to the wire?
Down to the wire can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near down to the wire in the dictionary

  1. down to a science
  2. down to a T
  3. down to earth
  4. down to every move on the board
  5. down to the short strokes
  6. down to the wire
  7. down tools
  8. down train
  9. down trains
  10. down tube
  11. down tubes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: down to the wire (page history and authors); down to the wire (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-down to the wire.ogg.

Cite this entry: “down to the wire.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/down_to_the_wire. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.