as in narrow escape
a barely successful escape from something undesirable
the doctor said I'd had a close call, and was lucky to be alive
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Recent Examples of close call
The incident is one of many close calls, go-around and aviation accidents that has prompted calls for changes to air travel in the US and heightened public anxiety around flying.
—
Alexandra Skores, CNN Money, 19 May 2025
Eventually, after a few close calls, tragedy strikes.
—Malcolm Forbes, Boston Herald, 15 May 2025
That close call came shortly after the Army resumed helicopter flights around Reagan, which were suspended following the midair collision between an American Airlines flight and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people in January.
—Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, 14 May 2025
Furthermore, these cosmic close calls might be best understood using concepts derived from string theory—a notional theory of everything that posits that all of nature is fundamentally composed of countless, wriggling subatomic strings.
—Ramin Skibba, Scientific American, 13 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for close call
Alexandra Skores, CNN Money, 19 May 2025
Eventually, after a few close calls, tragedy strikes.
—Malcolm Forbes, Boston Herald, 15 May 2025
That close call came shortly after the Army resumed helicopter flights around Reagan, which were suspended following the midair collision between an American Airlines flight and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people in January.
—Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, 14 May 2025
Furthermore, these cosmic close calls might be best understood using concepts derived from string theory—a notional theory of everything that posits that all of nature is fundamentally composed of countless, wriggling subatomic strings.
—Ramin Skibba, Scientific American, 13 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for close call
Recent Examples of Synonyms for close call
close shave
Noun
-
The floating, vibrating head gave me a really close shave, especially with my shaving cream.—
Malia Griggs,
Glamour,
16 May 2025
-
Their characters have had plenty of close shaves, although most didn't involve razors.—
Chris Cosgrove,
EW.com,
17 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Close call.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/close%20call. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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