thisclose

(THISclohs; TH as in the)

adj.

A symbolic description used to indicate when one thing is extremely close to another or when an event is imminent.

Example Citation:

Next flight's not for a couple of hours. Go home. Half undress. Go to bed. Oversleep. Jump up. Race to car. Snow's still falling. Ice is thicker, slicker. From the top of the hill next to my apartment, I watch with dismay as a station wagon just yards ahead loses control, ending up thisclose to a tree.

— Cynthia McMullen, "When life brings you snowflakes," The Richmond Times-Dispatch, January 10, 2002

Earliest Citation:

[T]he Bucs' Williams (12) is thisclose to putting everything together."

— Photo caption, Sports Illustrated, September 1, 1982

Notes:

This term is based on the idiomatic gesture of holding one's thumb and forefinger very close together while saying emphatically that one thing was "this close" to another.

Category:

Idioms