within an inch of one's life
/wɪðˌɪn ən ˈɪntʃ əv wʌnz ˈlaɪf/
"within-an-inch-of-one-s-life" is a 22-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“within an inch of one's life” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prep_phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 28
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To a point where one is at great risk of death; or (figuratively, hyperbolic) of severe danger or trouble.
Corpus desk
Index EN-within-an-inch-of-one-s- · within an inch of one's life · English
within an inch of one's life · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 28 letters
- VOW-9 9 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "W" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | within an inch of one's life |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prep_phrase |
| IPA | /wɪðˌɪn ən ˈɪntʃ əv wʌnz ˈlaɪf/ |
| Letters | 28 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “within an inch of one's life” in English
Rare enough to double-check
within an inch of one's life is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprep_phrase, transcribed /wɪðˌɪn ən ˈɪntʃ əv wʌnz ˈlaɪf/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
within an inch of one's life doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is within an inch of one's life, spelled W-I-T-H-I-N- -A-N- -I-N-C-H- -O-F- -O-N-E-'-S- -L-I-F-E.
Definition
- 1To a point where one is at great risk of death; or (figuratively, hyperbolic) of severe danger or trouble.
- 2Almost as much as possible; to an extreme extent.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how within an inch of one's life appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Every drawer had the names of the tools inside written on the front. There were also several parts lockers; they too were labeled and organized within an inch of their lives.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.