nigh

1 of 4

adverb

1
: near in place, time, or relationship
Morning was drawing nigh.
often used with on, onto, or unto
served … for nigh on forty yearsM. S. Tisdale
2
: nearly, almost
… once well nigh broke his neck, by a fall from one of its branches.Washington Irving

nigh

2 of 4

adjective

1
: close, near
2
chiefly dialectal : direct, short
3
: being on the left side
the nigh horse

nigh

3 of 4

preposition

: near

nigh

4 of 4

verb

nighed; nighing; nighs

transitive verb

: to draw or come near to : approach

intransitive verb

: to draw near

Examples of nigh in a Sentence

Adverb The snow is melting. Spring is nigh. It would be nigh impossible to fix it. Preposition a field nigh the church Verb as the hour of his death was nighing as the old man was nighing his hour of death
Recent Examples on the Web
Adverb
With Hillman Grad’s myriad successes, the time to begin having these conversations is nigh. Angelique Jackson, Variety, 3 Feb. 2023 Unfortunately, Divine is no longer around to star in Liarmouth, but someone call Ricki Lake — the time for a return to the Waters-ain is nigh. Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 6 Oct. 2022 The worst results were nigh unwatchable: See Obi-Wan Kenobi's deplorable CGI and The Rings of Power embarrassingly transforming Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) into an immortal sap. Kristen Baldwin and Darren Franich, EW.com, 6 Dec. 2022 The stock-market rally that started earlier this month with a soft U.S. inflation figure has started to fade, as recent statements by officials cast doubt on the idea that the end of aggressive monetary tightening is nigh. Jon Sindreu, WSJ, 21 Nov. 2022 Action must be taken now, in the lame-duck session, to put an end to this, because the witching hour is nigh and the GOP will have strong incentives to try to tank the economy. Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 21 Nov. 2022
Adjective
For years now, health experts have been warning that COVID-era politics and the spread of anti-vaxxer lies have brought us to the brink of public-health catastrophe—that a Great Collapse of Vaccination Rates is nigh. Daniel Engber, The Atlantic, 11 Jan. 2024 However, this isn’t the first time the federal government has said a decision is nigh — so stay tuned. Sarah Owermohle, STAT, 4 Jan. 2024 This won’t be your average Libra Season, though—eclipses are nigh (wait for October). Steph Koyfman, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Aug. 2023 But adherents believe that day is nigh, and the tech could usher in an era where people can take back their online interactions from the big companies and keep things amongst themselves. WIRED, 5 Aug. 2023 The latest artificial-intelligence hype is powering a massive surge in the stock market on bets that a new era of innovation is nigh. Justina Lee, Fortune, 1 June 2023 Lawn Love, a marketplace for lawn care services, released the study as Oktoberfest celebrations are nigh. Dallas News, 21 Sep. 2022 Katie Gostic, an infectious-disease modeler at the University of Chicago, agrees that Delta doom is probably nigh. Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 27 Jan. 2022 The nigh-unkillable guy in the William Shatner mask. Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 14 Oct. 2021
Verb
Typically, his charges have shown the classic mental strength to get over the line in awkward games—with opposition teams having to execute their game plan to nigh on perfection to prosper in most cases. Henry Flynn, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nigh.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adverb, Adjective, Preposition, and Verb

Middle English, from Old English nēah; akin to Old High German nāh, adverb, nigh, preposition, nigh, after, Old Norse nā- nigh

First Known Use

Adverb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Preposition

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

13th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of nigh was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near nigh

Cite this Entry

“Nigh.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nigh. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

nigh

1 of 2 adverb
1
: near in place, time, or relationship
2

nigh

2 of 2 adjective
: not far : close, near
Etymology

Adverb

Old English nēah "near, nigh" — related to near, neighbor see Word History at neighbor

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