on death's doorstep

phrase

Almost dead.

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Meanings

phrase
  1. Almost dead.

    Look, we all know that some of the things that we do will put us on death's doorstep one day.

    2020, Peter J. Adams, Reflecting on the Inevitable, page 218
    2 more examples

    By the time she decided to seek help from a Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) center near her village, she was on death's doorstep: dizzy and unable to walk, much less work.

    2017, Anat Rosenthal, Health on Delivery

    But in my family, you follow through on your commitments and show up at school or work unless you are on death's doorstep. But maybe I was on death's doorstep, because Mom and I didn't even discuss the idea of my leaving the house.

    2018, Leila Sales, If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say

Origin

Probably a shortening of the phrasal verb sit on death's doorstep.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

on death's doorstep. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20death's%20doorstep

MLA

“on death's doorstep.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20death's%20doorstep. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on death's doorstep,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20death's%20doorstep.

Source: on death's doorstep on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.