neck and neck

Extremely close together; at or near an equal level. Usually said of competitors in a race or competition. The two athletes have been neck and neck for this entire race. The election is neck and neck. We're going to have to wait until the very last votes are tallied.

Fig. exactly even, especially in a race or a contest. John and Tom finished the race neck and neck. Mary and Ann were neck and neck in the spelling contest. Their scores were tied.

So close that the advantage or lead shifts from one to the other or is virtually indistinguishable, as in The two are neck and neck in developing a new operating system for the computer. The term comes from horse racing, where the necks of two horses in competition appear to be side by side. [Early 1800s] For a synonym, see nip and tuck.

COMMON In a race or contest, if two competitors are neck and neck, they are exactly level with each other, so that it is impossible to say who will win. The latest opinion polls show both parties running neck and neck. Leeds are currently neck-and-neck with Manchester United for the Championship. Note: You can use neck-and-neck before a noun. Polls suggest a neck-and-neck race between the Liberals and Conservatives. Note: Two horses are said to be neck and neck when they are exactly level and it is impossible to say which one is winning the race.

So close that the lead between competitors is virtually indeterminable.

A close competition. The term comes from horse-racing, when two horses running very close appear to be neck against neck. It began to be transferred to human affairs in the early nineteenth century. John W. Croker used it in Croker Papers (ca. 1812): “In the House of Commons, . . . where the parties were, if I may use the expression, neck and neck.”