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Showing results for near thing. Search instead for Scary thing.
Synonyms

near thing

British  

noun

  1. informal an event or action whose outcome is nearly a failure, success, disaster, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
near thing Idioms  

  1. Something just barely effected, as in That election was a near thing—he won by a handful of votes. [Mid-1700s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The Air National Guard used the site into the 1930s, and it was a very near thing: Griffith Park, not LAX, was almost the site of the city’s first airport.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 13, 2023

The bowler is interested in the near thing, but the better chance of the wicket comes at the non-striker’s end.

From The Guardian • Jun. 19, 2021

His choice of Bush as his running mate was a near thing.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 30, 2018

Even though war had been averted, it was a near thing.

From Washington Post • Aug. 30, 2018

By Jove, it had been a near thing, though....

From "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.