toss of a coin
1
2.9
- noun
- /tɔs əv ə kɔɪn/
:
lanzamiento de una moneda
- Yes, Chigurh does leave some of his victims' lives up to the simple toss of a coin, but in other cases, he has clearly made up his mind.
Examples
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Okay, I'm not betting my life at a toss of a coin.
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His characters do not exist outside his mind, and their fates will be decided with the toss of a coin.
Academic text (2016) -
To decide who goes first in the game, we used a toss of a coin.
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They reached an agreement after a simple toss of a coin settled the dispute.
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The final decision about the vacation destination was made with a toss of a coin.
Synonyms
33
1.0
An act of throwing a coin into the air to decide something
17
2.4
A way to decide something by flipping a coin and seeing which side lands up
A decision that depends mostly on chance
A choice with an uncertain result that may be risky
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase 'toss of a coin' is directly compositional: 'toss' (to throw) + 'coin' (a small round currency) with the function words 'of a' linking them, so the phrase denotes the act of tossing a coin. This action-as-decision is cross-linguistically common and follows a transparent, literal composition that a B1 learner who knows the constituents can readily infer.
Etymology
Toss of a coin comes from the simple act of tossing a coin into the air and watching which side, heads or tails, lands face up. Because the result comes down to which side falls, a toss of a coin means 'to decide by chance' when people cannot agree.