"close call" meaning in English

See close call in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /kləʊs ˈkɔːl/ [UK] Forms: close calls [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} close call (plural close calls)
  1. A situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided. Synonyms: close shave, close thing, narrow escape, narrow squeak, near shave, near thing Translations (situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided): knapp davongekommen (German), escapar por um triz (Portuguese), на волосок от (na volosok ot) (Russian), escape por los pelos [masculine] (Spanish), escapada de milagro [feminine] (Spanish), salvada de milagro [feminine] (Spanish), escapatoria que estuvo demasiado cerca [feminine] (Spanish), salvamiento después de estar a punto de perder a [feminine] (Spanish)

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "close calls",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "close call (plural close calls)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              9,
              19
            ]
          ],
          "text": "He had a close call when a truck ran a red light and almost hit him.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              157,
              168
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2023 July 5, Murtada Elfadl, “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One review: Tom Cruise runs, jumps, and delivers again”, in AV Club:",
          "text": "there will be Tom Cruise, as spy extraordinaire Ethan Hunt, running as fast as he can, jumping off cliffs and ultimately saving the day after surviving many close calls.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided."
      ],
      "id": "en-close_call-en-noun-j-rO-IEz",
      "links": [
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ],
        [
          "injury",
          "injury"
        ],
        [
          "undesirable",
          "undesirable"
        ],
        [
          "outcome",
          "outcome"
        ],
        [
          "narrowly",
          "narrowly"
        ],
        [
          "avoid",
          "avoid"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "close shave"
        },
        {
          "word": "close thing"
        },
        {
          "word": "narrow escape"
        },
        {
          "word": "narrow squeak"
        },
        {
          "word": "near shave"
        },
        {
          "word": "near thing"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
          "word": "knapp davongekommen"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "lang_code": "pt",
          "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
          "word": "escapar por um triz"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "na volosok ot",
          "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
          "word": "на волосок от"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "escape por los pelos"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "escapada de milagro"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "salvada de milagro"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "escapatoria que estuvo demasiado cerca"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "salvamiento después de estar a punto de perder a"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kləʊs ˈkɔːl/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "close call"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "close calls",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "close call (plural close calls)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Portuguese translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              9,
              19
            ]
          ],
          "text": "He had a close call when a truck ran a red light and almost hit him.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              157,
              168
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2023 July 5, Murtada Elfadl, “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One review: Tom Cruise runs, jumps, and delivers again”, in AV Club:",
          "text": "there will be Tom Cruise, as spy extraordinaire Ethan Hunt, running as fast as he can, jumping off cliffs and ultimately saving the day after surviving many close calls.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ],
        [
          "injury",
          "injury"
        ],
        [
          "undesirable",
          "undesirable"
        ],
        [
          "outcome",
          "outcome"
        ],
        [
          "narrowly",
          "narrowly"
        ],
        [
          "avoid",
          "avoid"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kləʊs ˈkɔːl/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "close shave"
    },
    {
      "word": "close thing"
    },
    {
      "word": "narrow escape"
    },
    {
      "word": "narrow squeak"
    },
    {
      "word": "near shave"
    },
    {
      "word": "near thing"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
      "word": "knapp davongekommen"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "lang_code": "pt",
      "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
      "word": "escapar por um triz"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "na volosok ot",
      "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
      "word": "на волосок от"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "escape por los pelos"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "escapada de milagro"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "salvada de milagro"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "escapatoria que estuvo demasiado cerca"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "situation in which an injury or other undesirable outcome is narrowly avoided",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "salvamiento después de estar a punto de perder a"
    }
  ],
  "word": "close call"
}

Download raw JSONL data for close call meaning in English (3.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (96027d6 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.