Word.ws English Dictionary

hangs by a thread

hangs by a thread is the third-person singular simple present indicative 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 hangs by a thread

What is hangs by a thread the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Hangs by a thread is the third-person singular simple present indicative of hang by a thread.

Words near hangs by a thread in the dictionary

  1. hangs an arse
  2. hangs around
  3. hangs back
  4. hangs behind
  5. hangs by a hair
  6. hangs by a thread
  7. hangs by the eyelids
  8. hangs fire
  9. hangs five
  10. hangs heavy
  11. hangs in

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hangs 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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