at death's door

Idioms  

1. On the point of dying, very ill, as in Whenever she had a bad cold she acted as though she were at death's door. The association of death with an entry way was first made in English in the late 1300s, and the phrase itself dates from the mid-1500s. Today it is often used as an exaggeration of ill health.

---

Example Sentences

Madame closed her eyes and thrashed as if she were at death’s door.

From Literature

"She was at death's door, and she knew I could write, so she asked me to write her an elegy if the worst came to the worst."

From BBC

He says he is unable to stand or walk, and "is at death's door".

From BBC

He added that an Israeli invasion of the city would "leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death's door".

From BBC

The movies have ostensibly been at death’s door at least since the shift to sync sound, which isn’t to undersell the industry’s business woes.

From New York Times

Related Words

• decaying
• doomed
• fading
• moribund