Word.ws English Dictionary

on a sixpence

on a sixpence prepositional phrase: within a very short distance.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (UK, idiomatic) Within a very short distance.
    • This motorboat can turn on a sixpence.
    • This car has excellent brakes that will stop it on a sixpence.
    Synonyms:
    on a dime

Synonyms of on a sixpence

Questions about on a sixpence

What does on a sixpence mean?
On a sixpence means within a very short distance.
What part of speech is on a sixpence?
On a sixpence is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on a sixpence in the dictionary

  1. on a promise
  2. on a regular basis
  3. on a roll
  4. on a shoestring
  5. on a silver platter
  6. on a sixpence
  7. on a stick
  8. on a stretch
  9. on a string
  10. on a sudden
  11. on a tear

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on a sixpence (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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Cite this entry: “on a sixpence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_a_sixpence. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.