within an inch of one's life

English

WOTD – 28 April 2021

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /wɪðˌɪn ən ˈɪntʃ əv wʌnz ˈlaɪf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪf
• Hyphenation: with‧in an inch of one's life

Prepositional phrase

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.

   Synonym: (obsolete) within an inch of one's skin

2. (figuratively, hyperbolic) Almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent.
   • 2000, Dana Stabenow, Midnight Come Again, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Minotaur, →ISBN, page 77:

     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.

Translations

to a point where one is at great risk of death

• Hungarian: félholtra, kis/hajszál híján agyon-
• Serbo-Croatian: na rubu smrti (idiom)

to a point of severe danger or trouble

• Hungarian: agyba-főbe (hu), hogy attól koldul

almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent

• Hungarian: alaposan (hu)
• Serbo-Croatian: za dlaku (idiom)

See also

• Thesaurus:difficult situation
• by a hair's breadth
• close shave

Further reading

• “within an inch of one’s life (or †skin)” under “inch, n.¹”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2020.
• “within an inch of one's life, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.