hair
- noun
- /hɛr/
- Informal
- So we came within a hair's breadth of World War Three.
So we came within a hair's breadth of World War Three.
- So we came within a hair's breadth of World War Three.
- OK, let's just it's a little a hair too dark for me, but we'll make it work.
Examples
-
Maybe a hair more.
-
You are a hair's breadth from suspension.
-
OK, let's just it's a little a hair too dark for me, but we'll make it work.
-
Look, you ease up at practice, just a hair slower.
-
Jesus stepped just a hair to the right, locking into Floyd's path.
Fiction book (1997) -
As you can see, the cabinet top framing is just a hair bigger than the sink tabs.
-
The United States could have found itself in a hair-raising face-off with the Russians over the fate of Iran.
Academic text (1991) -
Continents and incontinence are just a hair's breath away from each other.
-
The two teams were separated by just a hair, highlighting how closely matched they were.
-
He was hair's breadth away from winning the race when he stumbled at the finish line.
Synonyms
A very small distance or amount
A very small amount or distance
A very small distance in a close call
A very small distance about as wide as a hair
Idioms
Compounds
- Specialized
A small pocket in the skin that holds the root of a hair and small oil glands
- Informal
Making very small, unimportant differences in an argument or discussion
A soft, warm, light brown cloth made from the hair of a camel and used for coats and sweaters
- Literature
A rough piece of clothing of animal hair that you wear next to the skin to show sorrow for sin
- Archaic
A liquid you put on hair to make it look neat, make it easier to manage, or help the scalp
- Specialized
Long outer parts of an animal's coat that protect the soft fur underneath
- Specialized
A sea animal with no outer ears, a stiff coat of hair, and back legs like flippers
A water plant with fine leaves often grown in aquariums to give oxygen and shelter small fish
- Specialized
A small animal that lives underground with a short furry tail found in eastern North America
- Specialized
A thin thread on a plant root that takes in water and nutrients from the soil
- Specialized
A small paint brush with very soft hairs for painting fine details
- Specialized
A thin artificial hair on robots or artificial hands that senses touch, air movement and vibration
- Specialized
A sharp hair on plants like nettles that releases liquid causing a burning feeling when touched
A delicate fern with thin shiny black stalks and small leaves that grows in moist shade
How Small
Surface Forms
Etymology
Hair came to mean a very small distance because a single 'hair' is extremely thin, so it became a picture of something tiny. That's why to miss something 'by a hair' means to miss it by a very small amount.