against time
12
3.8
- idiom
- Informal
:
a contrarreloj
- This is a race against time, and every second counts.
- a race against time
So it it's just tough negotiating against time for your, for the boys, for yourself, balancing it all.
- So it it's just tough negotiating against time for your, for the boys, for yourself, balancing it all.
Examples
-
Now, it's a race against time... a countdown of only 14 days in which to cross half the world.
-
But we were in a race against time.
Academic text (2009) -
Like I said, they were on a race against time.
-
It's a race against time
-
Now, it's a race against time.
-
It's a race against time.
-
We were working against time.
-
Arnold knew he was working against time.
Fiction book (2001) -
It was now a race against time to get the Spitfire finished.
-
We were working against time to finish the project before the deadline.
Synonyms
10
4.2
When you have very little time you need to hurry
8
4.5
A situation where people must finish something quickly before it is too late
7
3.7
Trying to finish something before time runs out
4
3.9
To finish something before the time runs out
Antonyms
How Urgent
- Informal
12
3.8
101
2.5
- Informal
10
4.2
321
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'in a race to finish something before a deadline' is directly inferable from combining 'against' (in opposition to) with 'time' (the limiting span), so the idea of acting in opposition to time — i.e. racing it — is compositional. This competing-with-time metaphor is common cross-linguistically and follows normal English usage, so a B1 learner who knows both words would very likely grasp the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Against time comes from the simple picture of racing a clock: you try to move against the time on the clock, as if the clock were your opponent. So it means 'in a race to finish something before a deadline or time limit'.