1. The thief leaped from one building to another to escape the police. He almost missed the second building, but he made it by the skin of his teeth.
2. Dan and Mark were swimming in the ocean and spotted a shark coming toward them. They swam to their boat and pulled themselves out of the water just in time. They made it out of the water by the skin of their teeth.

Synonym: hair’s breadth. Compare to: close shaveThe expression suggests that something is as narrow as the (nonexistent) skin on one’s teeth.