nigh

adverb \ ˈnī \

|Updated on: 13 Jun 2018

Examples: nigh in a Sentence

Definition of nigh

1 : near in place, time, or relationship

Morning was drawing nigh.

—often used with on, onto, or unto

served … for nigh on forty years
—M. S. Tisdale

2 : nearly, almost

… once well nigh broke his neck, by a fall from one of its branches.
—Washington Irving

See nigh defined for English-language learners

See nigh defined for kids

Examples of nigh in a Sentence

The snow is melting. Spring is nigh.
It would be nigh impossible to fix it.

Recent Examples of nigh from the Web

As the crowd watched in silence, and military members rendered salute, Daley held the final note before bringing the bugle call to an end: All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

— chapel fowler, charlotteobserver, "'Super humbling.' Army bugler relishes her part in NASCAR's military tribute. | Charlotte Observer," 27 May 2018
The commercialization of self-driving tech is nigh.

— aarian marshall, WIRED, "California's Heavy-Handed Plan to Regulate the Self-Driving Car Biz," 24 May 2018
Memorial Day is nigh, and there’s no time like the present to begin handicapping the race for song of the summer, 2018.

— michelle ruiz, Vogue, "J.Lo, Cardi B, and DJ Khaled Make a Play for Song of the Summer With “Dinero”," 17 May 2018
Removing Rosenstein would require a two-thirds majority in the Senate — which would be nigh impossible.

— matt zapotosky, Washington Post, "‘The Department of Justice is not going to be extorted’: Rosenstein responds to impeachment threat," 1 May 2018
By contrast, Milwaukee coach Joe Prunty’s substitution patterns were well-nigh psychedelic.

— charles p. pierce, SI.com, "Brad Stevens, Boston and the Latest Chapter in Celtics-Sixers," 30 Apr. 2018
But this requested two-month delay for Flynn's sentencing makes clear the end is not nigh.

— chris cillizza, CNN, "The Mueller probe ain't ending anytime soon," 1 May 2018
And yes, Andrew Luck will be able to step up in the pocket, knowing there's a nigh-invulnerable force of nature protecting him.

— joseph spears, Indianapolis Star, "Nelson draft grades: Plenty of good but we know you'll want to see the D+," 27 Apr. 2018
But the difference between those two things is a scant, nigh imperceptible (to me) apostrophe.

— will nevin, OregonLive.com, "TBT #34: Retired Robocop, Cold War vets and more coming in comics," 11 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'nigh.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of nigh

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

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

nigh Synonyms

Synonyms

about, all but, almost, borderline, fairly, more or less, most, much, near, nearly, next to, practically, somewhere, virtually, well-nigh;

Near Antonyms

absolutely, altogether, completely, entirely, fully, plain, quite, thoroughly;

totally, utterly, well, wholly;

barely, hardly, scarcely;

kind of, partially, partly, somewhat;

Phrases

as good as, just about, pretty much, within an inch of;

nigh

adjective

Definition of nigh

1 : close, near

2 chiefly dialectal : direct, short

3 : being on the left side

the nigh horse

Recent Examples of nigh from the Web

While Vesuvius buried Pompeii in lava and ash 14 years later, the end wasn't exactly nigh for the entire planet.

— National Geographic, "No, the World Will Not End on April 23," 13 Apr. 2018
While Vesuvius buried Pompeii in lava and ash 14 years later, the end wasn't exactly nigh for the entire planet.

— National Geographic, "No, the World Will Not End on April 23," 13 Apr. 2018
While Vesuvius buried Pompeii in lava and ash 14 years later, the end wasn't exactly nigh for the entire planet.

— National Geographic, "No, the World Will Not End on April 23," 13 Apr. 2018
While Vesuvius buried Pompeii in lava and ash 14 years later, the end wasn't exactly nigh for the entire planet.

— National Geographic, "No, the World Will Not End on April 23," 13 Apr. 2018
While Vesuvius buried Pompeii in lava and ash 14 years later, the end wasn't exactly nigh for the entire planet.

— National Geographic, "No, the World Will Not End on April 23," 13 Apr. 2018
After disabling those automatic scalers, the game rendered far more sharply but also became a stuttering, nigh unplayable mess.

— kyle orland and sam machkovech, Ars Technica, "HTC Vive Pro review: Eye-popping VR, with a price that’s a little too real," 3 Apr. 2018
While Vesuvius buried Pompeii in lava and ash 14 years later, the end wasn't exactly nigh for the entire planet.

— National Geographic, "Why It's Unlikely the World Will End on September 23," 19 Sep. 2017
Giving more explicit voice to the warnings of a Saturday checkout time for all of us is conspiracy fabulist David Meade, whose YouTube video making his end-is-nigh case has amassed 3.2 million views so far.

— jeffrey kluger, Time, "No, the World Is Not Going to End This Weekend," 19 Sep. 2017