to draw near
18
2.6
- phrasal verb
- /drɔ nɪr/
:
acercarse
- In the midst of all these tumultuous thoughts, she heard the horse draw near.
- election drew near
- day drew near
- game draws near
All right, see you soon as we draw near another critical election.
- All right, see you soon as we draw near another critical election.
- And it does talk about in Revelations, like you're going to see the plenty of signs in the heavens to let you know that the time is drawing near.
- It is a great way to go deeper into the Spirit, to go, to draw nearer to God, to be able to hear things clearly, to gain more clarity.
- As that date draws near, the need to ensure judicial fairness and bail in order that I may better prepare my defense becomes increasingly urgent.
Examples
-
And then he saw that she recognized him as they drew near.
Fiction book (1999) -
Everyone on both sides of the line knew that the end of the war was drawing near.
Fiction book (1992) -
Church provides an opportunity for us to draw near to God with one another.
Blog text (7) -
The time is drawing near.
-
Do you realize that the end of the world is drawing near?
-
But when Rose drew near to the bed, her expression and her manner changed completely.
Fiction book (2001) -
When the approaching car drew near, she ducked down out of sight.
Fiction book (2000) -
As May approached and the day of our departure drew near, they grew visibly agitated.
Fiction book (1991) -
As Thanksgiving drew near, some of the grocery stores had complaints about spoiled turkeys.
Academic text (2008) -
As the concert draws near, the excitement among the fans builds.
Synonyms
532
2.1
To move closer in space to a person or thing
115
1.0
Move closer to someone or something
56
1.8
To move closer in space or time
8
2.9
Move nearer to someone or something
Antonyms
How Close
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to move closer' is directly derivable from combining 'draw' (to pull or cause to come) with 'near' (to be close/move closer); the constituents transparently compose to the sense 'approach'. This compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows regular English verb + directional/adverbial combinations, so a B1 learner who knows both words should be able to infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Draw near comes from the simple image of pulling something closer: draw means to pull and near means close, like drawing a chair up to a table. So, when a time or event is drawing near, it is 'coming soon' or 'coming closer'.