nigh

1 of 4

adverb

ˈnī 

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

nigh

2 of 4

adjective

1

: close, near

2

chiefly dialectal : direct, short

3

: being on the left side

the nigh horse

nigh

3 of 4

preposition

: near

nigh

4 of 4

verb

nighed; nighing; nighs

transitive verb

: to draw or come near to : approach

intransitive verb

: to draw near

Synonyms of nigh

Adverb

• close
• near
• in

Adjective

• near
• close

Preposition

• near
• around
• beside
• at

Verb

• close
• come
• near
• approach
• come up

Examples of nigh in a Sentence

Adverb

The snow is melting. Spring is nigh.

It would be nigh impossible to fix it.

Adjective

the end is nigh

Preposition

a field nigh the church

Verb

as the hour of his death was nighing

as the old man was nighing his hour of death

Recent Examples on the Web

Adverb

That’s a nigh impossible combination of characteristics to come by. —Tyler Estep, AJC.com, 7 Jan. 2026

And that much looks nigh impossible given Stale Solbakken’s men won 3-0 when these teams met in Oslo back in June. —Ben Verbrugge, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Nov. 2025

Verb

Typically, his charges have shown the classic mental strength to get over the line in awkward games—with opposition teams having to execute their game plan to nigh on perfection to prosper in most cases. —Henry Flynn, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Adverb, Adjective, Preposition, and Verb

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

First Known Use

Adverb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Preposition

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

13th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Phrases Containing nigh

• draw near/nigh
• well-nigh

Rhymes for nigh

• ai
• aye
• bae
• bi
• buy
• by
• bye
• chai
• chi
• cry
• die
• dry

Kids Definition

nigh

1 of 2 adverb

ˈnī 

1

: near in place, time, or relationship

2

: almost, nearly

nigh

2 of 2 adjective

: not far : close, near

Etymology

Adverb

Old English nēah "near, nigh" — related to near, neighbor see Word History at neighbor