Meanings
nounnear thing (plural near things)
plural near things
- A close call, a close shave, a close thing
The Jylland only missed running down a schooner by a few yards in the fog; it was a near thing—near enough, in fact, to allow of some shouted remarks between those on the bridge of the motorship and the man at the wheel of the schooner to be clearly heard.
1943 May and June, Chas. S. Lake, “Some Continental Travel Experiences (1922-1939)—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 143
Synonyms & antonyms
Also see
Cite this entry
APA
near thing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/near%20thing
MLA
“near thing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/near%20thing. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “near thing,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/near%20thing.
Source: near thing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.