"within an inch of one's life" meaning in English

See within an inch of one's life in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

IPA: /wɪðˌɪn ən ˈɪntʃ əv wʌnz ˈlaɪf/ [General-American, Received-Pronunciation]
Rhymes: -aɪf Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=}} within an inch of one's life, {{en-PP}} within an inch of one's life
  1. To a point where one is at great risk of death; or (figuratively, hyperbolic) of severe danger or trouble. Synonyms: within an inch of one's skin [obsolete] Related terms: difficult situation, by a hair's breadth, close shave Translations (to a point of severe danger or trouble): agyba-főbe (Hungarian), hogy attól koldul (Hungarian) Translations (to a point where one is at great risk of death): félholtra (Hungarian), kis/hajszál híján agyon- (Hungarian), na rubu smrti [idiomatic] (Serbo-Croatian)
    Sense id: en-within_an_inch_of_one's_life-en-prep_phrase-1LFe1hLF Categories (other): English hyperboles Disambiguation of 'to a point of severe danger or trouble': 95 5 Disambiguation of 'to a point where one is at great risk of death': 98 2
  2. (figuratively, hyperbolic) Almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent. Tags: excessive, figuratively Translations (almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent): alaposan (Hungarian), za dlaku [idiomatic] (Serbo-Croatian)
    Sense id: en-within_an_inch_of_one's_life-en-prep_phrase-ZYKzReut Categories (other): English hyperboles, English positive polarity items Disambiguation of English positive polarity items: 39 61 Disambiguation of 'almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent': 1 99

Download JSON data for within an inch of one's life meaning in English (3.2kB)

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "within an inch of one's life",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "within an inch of one's life",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "with‧in"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English hyperboles",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To a point where one is at great risk of death; or (figuratively, hyperbolic) of severe danger or trouble."
      ],
      "id": "en-within_an_inch_of_one's_life-en-prep_phrase-1LFe1hLF",
      "links": [
        [
          "point",
          "point#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "one",
          "one"
        ],
        [
          "great",
          "great#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "risk",
          "risk#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "death",
          "death"
        ],
        [
          "severe",
          "severe"
        ],
        [
          "danger",
          "danger#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "trouble",
          "trouble#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "69 31",
          "word": "difficult situation"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "69 31",
          "word": "by a hair's breadth"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "69 31",
          "word": "close shave"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "obsolete"
          ],
          "word": "within an inch of one's skin"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to a point where one is at great risk of death",
          "word": "félholtra"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to a point where one is at great risk of death",
          "word": "kis/hajszál híján agyon-"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "to a point where one is at great risk of death",
          "tags": [
            "idiomatic"
          ],
          "word": "na rubu smrti"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to a point of severe danger or trouble",
          "word": "agyba-főbe"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to a point of severe danger or trouble",
          "word": "hogy attól koldul"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English hyperboles",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "39 61",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English positive polarity items",
          "parents": [
            "Positive polarity items",
            "Terms by semantic function"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2000, Dana Stabenow, Midnight Come Again, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Minotaur, page 77",
          "text": "Every drawer had the names of the tools inside written on the front. There were also several parts lockers; they too were labeled and organized within an inch of their lives.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent."
      ],
      "id": "en-within_an_inch_of_one's_life-en-prep_phrase-ZYKzReut",
      "links": [
        [
          "Almost",
          "almost"
        ],
        [
          "possible",
          "possible"
        ],
        [
          "extreme",
          "extreme"
        ],
        [
          "extent",
          "extent"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively, hyperbolic) Almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "excessive",
        "figuratively"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "1 99",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent",
          "word": "alaposan"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 99",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent",
          "tags": [
            "idiomatic"
          ],
          "word": "za dlaku"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/wɪðˌɪn ən ˈɪntʃ əv wʌnz ˈlaɪf/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aɪf"
    }
  ],
  "word": "within an inch of one's life"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English positive polarity items",
    "English prepositional phrases",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "Rhymes:English/aɪf",
    "Rhymes:English/aɪf/7 syllables"
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "within an inch of one's life",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "within an inch of one's life",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "with‧in"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "difficult situation"
    },
    {
      "word": "by a hair's breadth"
    },
    {
      "word": "close shave"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English hyperboles"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To a point where one is at great risk of death; or (figuratively, hyperbolic) of severe danger or trouble."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "point",
          "point#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "one",
          "one"
        ],
        [
          "great",
          "great#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "risk",
          "risk#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "death",
          "death"
        ],
        [
          "severe",
          "severe"
        ],
        [
          "danger",
          "danger#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "trouble",
          "trouble#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "obsolete"
          ],
          "word": "within an inch of one's skin"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English hyperboles",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2000, Dana Stabenow, Midnight Come Again, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Minotaur, page 77",
          "text": "Every drawer had the names of the tools inside written on the front. There were also several parts lockers; they too were labeled and organized within an inch of their lives.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Almost",
          "almost"
        ],
        [
          "possible",
          "possible"
        ],
        [
          "extreme",
          "extreme"
        ],
        [
          "extent",
          "extent"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively, hyperbolic) Almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "excessive",
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/wɪðˌɪn ən ˈɪntʃ əv wʌnz ˈlaɪf/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aɪf"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to a point where one is at great risk of death",
      "word": "félholtra"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to a point where one is at great risk of death",
      "word": "kis/hajszál híján agyon-"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "to a point where one is at great risk of death",
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "word": "na rubu smrti"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to a point of severe danger or trouble",
      "word": "agyba-főbe"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to a point of severe danger or trouble",
      "word": "hogy attól koldul"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent",
      "word": "alaposan"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent",
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "word": "za dlaku"
    }
  ],
  "word": "within an inch of one's life"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-17 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-01 using wiktextract (0b52755 and 5cb0836). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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