noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Alternative form of hair's breadth: a very short distance or a very small amount (as is the width of a hair). alt-of, alternative

   "[...] I ſee you are obſequious in your loue, and I profeſſe requitall to a haires bredth, [...]"

2. 2
   a very small distance or space wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

acebitclosenessconfinementcrackearshot

Example

More examples

"The speeding car missed the child, who ran out into the road, by only a hairsbreadth."

Etymology

From hair + -s- + breadth.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.