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toss up

noun, verb — 12 senses

toss-up

nounalso spelled toss-up

Etymology Deverbal from toss up.

1

Idiomatic A decision in which neither choice is clearly favorable or unfavorable, or for which the outcome does not matter.

  • It's really a toss-up between the red skirt with blue stripes and the blue skirt with red stripes. They both look good and fit well.
  • But at the moment when everything was going so well, there came one of those unforeseeable chances that reduce even the most circumspectly arranged plots to the significance of a mere toss-up.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:
2

Either of two outcomes that are equally likely.

  • “He’ll do,” said the Doctor, quietly. “It must have been a toss-up all through the night. ’Think you’re to be congratulated on this case.”1889, Rudyard Kipling, “Only A Subaltern”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 151:
  • No longer is the best picture going to be a toss-up between that troika of national-historical heavies: Argo, Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty. Instead, a warm welcome back for Life of Pi, widely dismissed by many as "this year's Hugo" but this column's dark-horse pick from October.2013 January 11, Tom Shone, The Guardian:
3

The toss of a coin used to decide some issue.

4

A toss-up question.

Derived terms
toss-up question

toss up

verb
8 senses
  1. 1To make a decision based on chance, for example by…
  2. 2To throw something upwards.
  3. 3To produce, generate.
  4. 4To post or upload.
  5. 5To cook or prepare something quickly.
  6. 6To casually mention as an idea.
  7. 7To vomit.
  8. 8To beat up, thrash.
1

To make a decision based on chance, for example by flipping a coin or rolling a dice.

2

To throw something upwards.

3

To produce, generate.

4

Internet To post or upload.

  • Restless in quarantine, she began posting videos on Instagram, one of which got picked up by Barstool, the popular sports blog. […] Then she tossed up a few on TikTok, notably one in which she faux-naively referred to Houston Street in New York, which is pronounced How-ston, as Hew-ston.2023 March 14, Alexandra Jacobs, “Your Annoying Roommate Is Slaying on TikTok”, in The New York Times:
5

To cook or prepare something quickly.

6

To casually mention as an idea.

7

Slang To vomit.

  • He began to vomit. Retching violently, he tossed up first the swaddled stone that he had eaten in the belief that it was Zeus, and then he vomited up Zeus's elder brothers and sisters […]1997, Lee Hall, Athena: A Biography, page 15:
8

Slang To beat up, thrash.

  • He got in a fight last night and got tossed up.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for toss-up and toss up.