close at hand
2
4.1
- idiom
:
inminente
- With winter approaching, the need for warm clothing is close at hand.
- close at hand death
- seem close at hand
- so close at hand
Examples
-
With death close at hand, the landscape becomes richly symbolic.
Academic text (1996) -
The time may be close at hand when we will formally identify a "Terrorist Religion" just as we now identify a "Terrorist State."
Blog text (10) -
You know our mission is close at hand
-
Here are the five reasons why I think that the bottom in the US housing market is close at hand:
Blog text (31) -
21. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
Blog text (3) -
Whether the market is bottoming now or in a few months, I definitely think that the bottom is close at hand and that sophisticated investors.
Blog text (31) -
The Firefox 4 release is close at hand, and while we have come a long way in SUMO, we still need help for two of our biggest languages: Russian and Brazilian Portuguese.
Blog text (27) -
He asked Traz, "Is it likely to be close at hand?" Traz shrugged.
Fiction book (1993) -
Our final hour is close at hand... please, please, please, my people, let's not let this demon keep us captive... we will never debel within the streets of Baltimore...
Blog text (5) -
For a moment, they just look at each other—half disbelieving the inevitable is so close at hand.
Fiction book (1998)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Near in space, time, or degree
312
1.0
Close to the place mentioned
260
1.9
Very near in place or happening soon
240
1.0
At a short distance in space or time
168
4.8
Likely to happen very soon
55
4.0
Going to happen very soon, usually something bad
51
3.2
About to happen
4
2.3
Happening or likely to happen soon
Likely to happen very soon
Antonyms
How Soon
Surface Forms
Morphology
close + at + hand
The meaning 'imminent' is directly derivable from 'close' (near) plus the locative phrase 'at hand' (literally near one's hand), so the phrase conveys nearness in time or occurrence in a straightforward compositional way. This spatial-to-temporal extension is common cross-linguistically and follows normal English locative composition, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would very likely infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Close at hand also creates the image of an event being so near your hand that you could almost touch it. That's why it can mean 'about to happen' or 'very soon'.