Word.ws English Dictionary

hanged by a thread

hanged by a thread is the simple past of hang by a thread.

Meaning of hang by a thread

Verb

hang by a thread (third-person singular simple present hangs by a thread, present participle hanging by a thread, simple past and past participle hung by a thread)

  1. (idiomatic) To be in danger, calling for precise caution; to be in a precarious situation.
    • A giant section of an Antarctic ice shelf is hanging by a thread and could break off at any moment, researchers have revealed.2017 June 2, Nicola Davis, “Giant Antarctic iceberg 'hanging by a thread', say scientists”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 16 Feb 2018
    Synonyms:
    hang by a hair

Questions about hanged by a thread

What is hanged by a thread the simple past of?
Hanged by a thread is the simple past of hang by a thread.

Words near hanged by a thread in the dictionary

  1. hangdoggish
  2. hangdoggy
  3. hangdogs
  4. hange
  5. hanged
  6. hanged by a thread
  7. hanged, drawn and quartered
  8. hanged, drew and quartered
  9. hangedst
  10. hangee
  11. hangees

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hanged by a thread (page history and authors); hang by a thread (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.

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