against the clock

Idioms

Also, against time. In a great hurry, as fast as possible, as in With her term paper due on Monday, she was racing against the clock to finish it, or They were working against time to stay on schedule. The term comes from various sports in which the contestants do not directly compete against each other but instead are timed individually, the winner being the one who is fastest. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1900s.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I love Shakespeare as much as the next theater critic, but the text should have been more rigorously streamlined for a company that too often seems to be racing against the clock.

From Los Angeles Times

The traditional skimo format is an individual racing against the clock, not in a cluster of competitors, and courses have elevation gains typically ranging from 1,640 to 2,300 feet.

From Los Angeles Times

“He’s not racing against the clock to cover an entire career.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Instead of preparing their own holiday festivities on the day before Christmas Eve, the women raced against the clock, with only hours left to perform a Christmas miracle.

From Los Angeles Times

"I do feel like it's a fight against the clock. We have to get this funding as quickly as possible," she said.

From Barron's

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023