photo finish
noun
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fohtohfihnishSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfoʊtoʊfɪnɪʃ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
sports
The finish of a race in which the leaders are so close together that the winner cannot be identified using the naked eye but is determined by means of a photograph.
In general, any very close finish; in particular, a finish of a race in which the contestants are so close together that the winner must be determined from a photograph taken at the instant of finishing
by extension
A very close outcome of any competition.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The finish of a race in which the leaders are so close together that the winner cannot be identified using the naked eye but is determined by means of a photograph.
Used this way, photo finish is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a sporting use: familiar to anyone who follows the game, and puzzling to anyone who does not.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Sports
- News/reporting
- Everyday conversation
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.