Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

one-horse race

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.58 in modern English

Syllables: one-horse race
IPA

17

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

2

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A horse race in which a single horse takes such a considerable lead that the other horses are no longer contenders to win.

Informal

noun

An election campaign or other competitive situation in which only one competitor is entered or in which only one competitor has a realistic chance of winning.

Example Sentences

"Since riding Harry Payne Whitney's Whiskery to victory in the Kentucky Derby, Jockey Linus ("Pony") McAtee has twice broken into the news in unconventional fashion. A fortnight ago, he won a one-horse race ("walkover") at Belmont Park, N. Y."
"Sinister Minister . . . kept extending his lead and turned the stretch run into a one-horse race."
"Although Mr Balladur is far ahead in the opinion polls, the spring election is far from being a one-horse race."
"A system for creating software that runs, unaltered, on all sorts of computers and devices . . . could transform the software business in the network era from a one-horse race led by Microsoft to a true contest."
"The dominance of the men in yellow over the past decade turned international cricket into a one-horse race."

Usage

Informal

Inflected Forms

one-horse races (plural)

Questions

What does one-horse race mean?: A horse race in which a single horse takes such a considerable lead that the other horses are no longer contenders to win.

How to pronounce one-horse race

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