hairsbreadth

Also hair's-breadth,

[hairz-bredth, -bretth, -breth]

noun

1. a very small space or distance.

   We escaped an accident by a hairsbreadth.

adjective

1. extremely narrow or close.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hairsbreadth¹

First recorded in 1575–85

Example Sentences

“This is why last year was much more stressful in many ways. We did come within a hairsbreadth of triaging patients last year.”

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So as Grace passed over the massive Greenland ice sheet, for instance, the leading module would respond to gravitational forces and edge out ahead by a hairsbreadth.

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Though it lasts only 73 minutes, “Tito” is jammed with enough action, adventure and hairsbreadth escapes to energize a much longer feature.

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Rep. Beto O'Rourke, the Texas Democrat who came within a hairsbreadth of beating Sen. Ted Cruz in the midterm elections last month, came out on top in a recent poll of progressive activists.

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These factors could already be steering the world ever closer to a new Cuban Missile Crisis, when the world came within a hairsbreadth of nuclear incineration.

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