one-horse race
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
A contest in which one candidate or competitor is clearly superior to all the others.
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Cuộc thi mà một ứng cử viên vượt trội so với mọi người
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
‘ This was a one - horse race.
O'Neill's Wycombe Wanderers are making such a one - horse race of the Vauxhall Conference that West Bromwich Albion, latest exponents of Ardiles ' beloved ‘ diamond’ formation, will warily arrive at Adams Park.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “one-horse race” mean?
A contest in which one candidate or competitor is clearly superior to all the others.
Is “one-horse race” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.