1
as in step
a very small distance or degree
give them an inch, and they'll take a mile
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
1
as in to encroach
to advance gradually beyond the usual or desirable limits
every year the water inches further up the embankments, threatening to permanently engulf the island city
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of inch
Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 7 Nov. 2025
Detroit is likely to get about 1 inch of snow by Monday.
—Sarah Moore, Freep.com, 7 Nov. 2025
Joe Reid, Vulture, 4 Nov. 2025
In the video, the contractor stopped in his tracks, confused about the giant tortoise slowly inching its way inside.
—Liz O'Connell, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inch
Noun
Take 4- to 6-inch cuttings from green, not woody, growth, dip the ends in rooting hormone, and root them in water or soil.
—Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 7 Nov. 2025
Detroit is likely to get about 1 inch of snow by Monday.
—Sarah Moore, Freep.com, 7 Nov. 2025
Verb
One Battle After Another picked up another $1 million and change in its sixth week, inching it ever closer to the $75 million bonus-point threshold.
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 4 Nov. 2025
In the video, the contractor stopped in his tracks, confused about the giant tortoise slowly inching its way inside.
—Liz O'Connell, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inch
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inch
Noun
-
The shop is housed in a former beauty salon, steps from the bakery.—
Liz Rothaus Bertrand,
Charlotte Observer,
7 Jan. 2026
-
Similar to fellow Arsenal summer signing Eberechi Eze — another keen chess player — the assumption would be that the skills taken from the board game have helped Zubimendi be a step ahead in enticing and then bypassing opposition players.—
Thom Harris,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Lenovo came out all guns blazing at CES 2026, using its biggest global stage yet to signal major leaps across devices, AI, and partnerships.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
7 Jan. 2026
-
Johnson understands what this week signifies — with this playoff stage providing the opportunity to stamp greater legitimacy on the season.—
Dan Wiederer,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
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After tumbling from a 50-foot height, Dan Aykroyd walked away convinced that a higher power had caught him.—
Stephanie Nolasco,
FOXNews.com,
8 Nov. 2025
-
Their mom, Alyssa Crawford, shared two images of herself with her daughter Violet, with text alluding to the 4-year-old’s height being smaller than her peers.—
Lucy Notarantonio,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
And up-and-coming Chinese firms like Xiaomi (for phones) and TCL (for TVs) are starting to encroach on Samsung’s premium markets.—
Nicholas Gordon,
Fortune,
6 Jan. 2026
-
Palace intrigue encroached on his confidence at times.—
Bennett Durando,
Denver Post,
6 Jan. 2026
Verb
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But as the stalemate has dragged on, some Democrats have been looking for a way out.—
Nathaniel Weixel,
The Hill,
6 Nov. 2025
-
Big bitcoin holders appear to be selling their tokens, threatening to drag the cryptocurrency deeper into the red, according to Citigroup.—
Liz Napolitano,
CNBC,
5 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
One Alvarado police officer was struck in the neck during the attack.—
Center Square,
The Washington Examiner,
7 Jan. 2026
-
At West Ham, Nuno has aligned himself with a club where the problems run so much deeper than merely trying to prevent the chilly fingers of relegation from closing round their neck.—
Daniel Taylor,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The final chapter of Stranger Things is set to release in three parts.—
Liza Esquibias,
PEOPLE,
8 Nov. 2025
-
The latest chapter came in the Div.—
Brendan Connelly,
Boston Herald,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
His fur was singed and bitten, his arm broken, and his mouth crawling with maggots.—
Alice Gibbs,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 Nov. 2025
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Amazon has already taken steps in recent months to prevent external AI agents from crawling its website, including those developed by OpenAI, Google and Meta.—
Ashley Capoot,Annie Palmer,
CNBC,
4 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Inch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inch. Accessed 7 Jan. 2026.
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