at a pinch
UK/ˌæ.təˈpɪnʃ/
at a pinch prepositional phrase: by a small margin or amount.
Prepositional phrase
- by a small margin or amount
- Synonyms:
- by the skin of one's teeth, only just
- In an urgent or difficult situation; when no other solution is available.
- Synonyms:
- in a pinch
at a pinch meaning in Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
at a pinch in Bengali
- খুব সামান্য ব্যবধানে, পরিমাণে, কোনো জরুরি, কঠিন পরিস্থিতিতে
at a pinch in Malayalam
- if need be, if necessary, in an emergency
- അത്യാവശ്യമാണെങ്കിൽ, ആവശ്യമെങ്കിൽ, അത്യാവശ്യഘട്ടത്തിൽ, അടിയന്തരഘട്ടത്തിൽ, സാധ്യമാകുംവിധം, അങ്ങേയറ്റത്തെ അടിയന്തരഘട്ടത്തിൽ
at a pinch in Kannada
- ಇಕ್ಕಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ಅಗತ್ಯಬಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ, ಬೇಕಾದರೆ, ಉಭಯ ಸಂಕಟದಲ್ಲಿ
Synonyms of at a pinch
Origin of at a pinch
at + a + pinch (“tight squeeze”)
Questions about at a pinch
- What does at a pinch mean?
- At a pinch means by a small margin or amount.
- What is at a pinch in Bengali?
- At a pinch in Bengali is খুব সামান্য ব্যবধানে, পরিমাণে, কোনো জরুরি. See At a pinch meaning in Bengali.
- What part of speech is at a pinch?
- At a pinch is a prepositional phrase.
- How do you pronounce at a pinch?
- At a pinch is pronounced /ˌæ.təˈpɪnʃ/ (UK).
Words near at a pinch in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: at a pinch (page history and authors); at a pinch (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); at a pinch (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); at a pinch (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: EN-AU ck1 at a pinch.ogg.
Cite this entry: “at a pinch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/at_a_pinch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.