close-run

close-run (comparative more close-run, superlative most close-run)

1. Hotly contested; won or achieved only by a small margin.

   We won the election, but it was a close-run thing.

   • 2026 March 18, Greg Morse, “1996 crash driving freight reforms”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 51:

     And it had been a close-run thing for many of the nearest - perhaps too close. Councillor Renee Spector, a senior member of Birmingham City Council planning committee, told the local press that the accident might force "a rethink" about the way it considered future applications. "There is a case for a buffer zone, but the problem is that land is at such a premium it is difficult to insist on a large distance between houses and railway lines," she said.