| 词汇 | too close to call |
| 释义 | Idiom too close to call impossible to guess the result in advance.Tonight's semifinals match is too close to call. Usage notes: usually said about a competition or an election too close to callToo close of a competition to identify a clear winner. This one is going to be too close to call—it's a photo finish! Right now the election is still too close to call. too close to callResulting in too narrow a margin to make a decision, as in That ball didn't miss by much but it was too close to call, or The election was too close to call, so they decided to have a runoff. This expression comes from sports, where call has signified "a judgment" since the mid-1600s. In the 1960s it began to be applied to pre-election polls and then to the outcome of elections. too close to callCOMMON If a contest is too close to call, it is impossible to say who will win, because the opponents seem equally good or equally popular. The presidential race is too close to call. Exit polls in Britain say that today's parliamentary election was too close to call. too close to call(of a contest, race, etc.) so evenly balanced that it is impossible to predict the outcome with confidence. informaltoo close to callIt is impossible to guess who is the winner. This term comes from close call, which since the late 1800s has meant a narrow escape. The current phrase seems to have originated in the 1960s in political broadcasting, according to William Safire, when it began to be used in reporting election results. In a situation where all the votes had been reported but there was no certain winner, the election was said to be too close to call. Since then the phrase has also been used of certain sports decisions, such as line calls in tennis (was the ball in or out?), penalty plays in basketball, and the like. |
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