close call
43
3.7
- noun
- /kloʊs kɔl/
- Informal
:
susto
- After the car almost collided with the tree, I realized it was a close call.
So he's telling his friends about his close call with getting scammed.
- So he's telling his friends about his close call with getting scammed.
- You have a lot of close calls that you can learn from too.
- Watch the FAA and NTSB are investigating a very close call in the skies over South Florida.
- And then I'm like, uh, oh, you know, there have been close calls.
- Oh my gosh, that was the closest call of my life.
- So, so we had just had all these crazy close calls leading up to the the end of the deployment.
- How often do you do you have a close call, man?
- And the theory of close calls says that people typically miscategorize the events in their life where something almost went wrong.
- But winter still means ice, fog and the occasional close call, especially with Soviet harassment floods.
- I think there's like times where it was a really close call and I have a series of always being on the right side of it.
- And, and when you have some close calls, it can be like, yes, some friends that they die by your side, or it can be like some accidents.
Examples
-
Since then, while there had been no skirmishes, there had been a few close calls.
Fiction book (1991) -
I had a very close call, my friend, and we've had close calls.
-
You have a lot of close calls that you can learn from too.
-
Your uncle had a close call.
-
Now that was a close call.
-
Well, we both had close calls last night.
-
You had a very close call.
-
And Steve is apparently here to stay, after a very close call a while back.
Blog text (2) -
You can say that it was a very close call for this pedestrian.
Blog text (4) -
There will be many more close calls, both internationally and domestically, down the road.
Academic text (2002)
Synonyms
14
3.7
A time when a crash nearly happens but is avoided
4
3.1
A situation in which someone just avoids danger or a bad result
4
7.8
A result decided by a very small difference
3
3.9
A situation where you almost have something bad happen
1
5.3
A very close success or escape by a small margin
1
6.6
A situation when something bad almost happens but does not
How Near Miss
Surface Forms
Morphology
close + call
The adjective 'close' (near, narrowly) gives a clear clue that something was near to happening, but the noun 'call' does not transparently denote an avoided danger or near-miss for learners who only know literal senses. The overall meaning 'near miss / narrowly avoided danger' is inferable to some extent from 'close' but requires world knowledge or exposure to this lexicalized collocation, so it is only partially predictable.
Etymology
Close call comes from the idea of a referee or judge making a tight decision: the call is close because it could easily go the other way. So it now means a dangerous or bad event that 'almost happened' but was 'avoided'.