photo finish
4
4.2
- noun
- /ˈfoʊtoʊ ˈfɪnɪʃ/
- Literature
:
foto finish
- In a surprising twist, the championship match concluded with a photo finish, showcasing the intense rivalry between the competitors.
- photo finish race
- see a photo finish
Examples
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The race was so close that it ended in a photo finish, with the winner determined by a photograph.
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I've seen some photo finishes in my time.
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Ladies and gentlemen, we have a photo finish.
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This is a real photo finish!
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Given that almost a third of the current total arrived in the last few days, this could well be a photo finish.
Blog text (15) -
It would be a photo finish, but it was obvious that the eight had won the race.
Fiction book (2000) -
That was the slowest photo finish I've seen in my life.
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A photo finish between Silver Shiner and The Mumper.
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It's a photo finish.
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After a thrilling competition, the two athletes crossed the line almost simultaneously, resulting in a photo finish.
How Close
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is transparently built: 'photo' (a camera image) modifies 'finish' (the end of a race), so the meaning 'a finish decided by a photograph' is directly inferable from the parts. This compositional noun+noun pattern is common in sports vocabulary and appears similarly in many languages (or as a direct borrowing), so a B1 learner who knows both words will very likely understand the intended sense.
Etymology
Photo finish comes from races where a camera took a photo of the finish line when two runners crossed almost at the same time. The picture would 'decide' who won, so the phrase now means a very close result that needs a photo to show the winner.