How to Use by a nose in a Sentence

by a nose

idiom
  • The race was one of Trump against Trump, in which Mr. Trump defeated himself by a nose.
    WSJ, 30 Mar. 2021
  • In the stretch, however, Carmouche smooched at his colt, rubbed its neck and got every ounce of speed to win by a nose.
    New York Times, 28 Apr. 2021
  • Hernandez remounted, Handy Dandy returned to the gate and won by a nose over Script in the one-mile turf race for 3-year-olds.
    Bill Center, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Nov. 2022
  • Marche Lorraine edged Dunbar Road by a nose after a photo finish in the Distaff.
    Beth Harris, baltimoresun.com, 7 Nov. 2021
  • In other races: — Aloha West scored an upset in winning the $2 million Sprint by a nose.
    Beth Harris, ajc, 6 Nov. 2021
  • Marche Lorraine edged Dunbar Road by a nose, with the crowd anxiously waiting out the photo finish in the Distaff.
    Beth Harris, ajc, 6 Nov. 2021
  • When the center is occupied by a nose tackle, that creates a two-on-two for the defense’s best pass rushers.
    Brad Biggs, chicagotribune.com, 14 Oct. 2021
  • The colt finished fourth in the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga after finishing second by a nose in his first start.
    John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2023
  • The horse and jockey Tom Marquand defeated High Fibre by a nose, the smallest margin in horse racing.
    Stephanie Petit, PEOPLE.com, 12 Apr. 2022
  • In horse racing, lots of contenders hang with the leader into the stretch run until true finishers find another gear to win by a nose.
    Bryce Miller Columnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Sep. 2020
  • But Smith won by a nose because of the unparalleled lenses, plus a few small performance details.
    Joe Jackson, Outside Online, 20 May 2019
  • The horse, who was running his last race, won by a nose and also had to endure a five-minute inquiry after there was bumping between him and National Treasure down the stretch.
    John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times, 6 Nov. 2023
  • The researchers don’t know — perhaps they were destroyed by the immune system, fell prey to viruses or were unceremoniously yanked out by a nose strip, clearing the way for new founders.
    New York Times, 6 Jan. 2022
  • One aspect of Cinco Jotas’ quality control beats its other Old World habits by a nose: a cadre of six sniffers whose job is to poke each pork loin in four specific places with probes made of cow bone and take evaluative whiffs.
    Richard Morgan, WSJ, 20 Dec. 2021
  • Diners rated the other temperatures and cooking times as all similar to each other, but thick steaks cooked at moderate temperatures won out by a nose.
    Bob Holmes, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 June 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'by a nose.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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