Word.ws English Dictionary

nigh on

nigh on phrase: almost, nearly; approaching; not quite.

Phrase

nigh on

  1. Almost, nearly; approaching; not quite.
    • I had been working in this industry for nigh on twelve years when it happened.
    • I walked for nigh on to three hours.

Examples of nigh on in a sentence

  • It’s nigh on eighteen years since I met him.1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XVI, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:
  • I’ve shoveled up the gypsum till it nigh on makes you choke.1964, Ron Angel, “The ICI Song”:

Questions about nigh on

What does nigh on mean?
Nigh on means almost, nearly; approaching; not quite.
How do you use nigh on in a sentence?
It’s nigh on eighteen years since I met him.
What part of speech is nigh on?
Nigh on is a phrase.

Words near nigh on in the dictionary

  1. niggunim
  2. nigguns
  3. nigguz
  4. niggy
  5. nigh
  6. nigh on
  7. nigh-hand
  8. nighabout
  9. nighabouts
  10. nighantu
  11. nighantus

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nigh on (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.

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