at hand
51
3.2
- idiom
:
inminente
- The deadline for the project is at hand, so we need to work quickly.
- the task at hand
- the issue at hand
- the situation at hand
No matter the scenario at hand, I'll give you another example.
- No matter the scenario at hand, I'll give you another example.
- I pull it out, I reference the crisis that's at hand.
- So, so humanizing the people and the subject at hand.
- And so it really depends on the situation at hand.
- Provide applications for the issue at hand.
- All right, so let's get to the that matter at hand, shall we?
- And when the others become aware that this was really the matter at hand, then they feel they have been deceived.
- Quite frankly, the president's plans not tough enough, bold enough or imaginative enough to meet the crisis at hand.
- He he he focused on something much, much worse and then by doing so tried to negate the actual issue at hand.
- So so once you get over the hacking or the issue at hand, you ask yourself, what was the ramifications of that?
- Applying this asymmetry to the case at hand, the court observed the consumers who turned to USCC for help were financially troubled and distraught.
Examples
-
And now we know it's really at hand, real soon, next year, in the spring.
Fiction book (1995) -
The moment is at hand.
-
The end was at hand; the state training school would be my new home.
Fiction book (1990) -
The midnight hour is close at hand.
-
Harry looks out the window at the screen, then back to the task at hand.
Fiction book (2001) -
Even the United States has, and will have, far too few soldiers for the tasks at hand.
Academic text (2004) -
The day of redemption is at hand!
-
- Forget about my psychiatrist and concentrate on the task at hand.
-
After all our careful planning, the many years of meticulous research and experimentation, our dream is finally at hand.
-
Several furtive yawns signal that the end of the evening is at hand.
Fiction book (1994)
Synonyms
168
4.8
Likely to happen very soon
58
2.1
Something can happen very soon and without warning
55
4.0
Going to happen very soon, usually something bad
43
4.2
Happening in the near future
17
6.1
Likely to happen
9
6.3
People are talking about something that is likely to happen soon
8
3.5
Ready for you now or about to happen
4
2.3
Happening or likely to happen soon
2
4.1
Likely to happen very soon
Expected to happen soon
Antonyms
How Soon
Surface Forms
Morphology
at + hand
The phrase combines the locative preposition 'at' with 'hand' (a nearby, within-reach body part), so its primary sense of 'near' or 'within reach' is directly inferable from the constituents. The temporal meaning 'imminent/soon' is a common and predictable spatial→temporal extension found in many languages, making the overall meaning accessible to a B1 learner who knows both words.
Etymology
At hand comes from the idea of something so near you could reach it with your hand. Because it feels almost reachable, people say it is 'about to happen', so the phrase now also means 'likely to happen soon'.