After each of the following sentences, a list of possible interpretations of the sentence is given. Choose the…

Analyze the question The idiom "by a hair's breadth" is being tested. You must choose the word that best captures its meaning.

Explain the concept A hair's breadth is the width of a single strand of hair, which is a tiny distance. So "by a hair's breadth" means by a very small margin, or only just. Similar expressions include "by the skin of one's teeth" and "a narrow escape."

Show the solution

• A. fast: This is about speed, not margin. The idiom says nothing about speed.
• B. luckily: The driver may well have been lucky, but luck is a result of the situation. The idiom describes how close the escape was, not the fortune involved.
• C. surprisingly: This is about how unexpected the escape was, which is not what the idiom means.
• D. narrowly: This means by a small margin, which is exactly what "by a hair's breadth" means.

So the driver escaped death by a very small margin, or narrowly.

Answer: D. narrowly

Exam tip When an idiom contains a measurement of something tiny (a hair's breadth, the skin of one's teeth), it almost always points to the idea of "only just" or "narrowly." Look for the option that describes the margin, not the feeling or speed.