perilously close to
idiom
somewhat formal
: at or to a point where one is in great danger of (something happening)
The company was perilously close to bankruptcy.
She came perilously close to drowning.
Examples of perilously close to in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Five people died on that day or in the immediate aftermath, and 140 police officers were assaulted.
Inside the siege: During the rampage, rioters came perilously close to penetrating the inner sanctums of the building while lawmakers were still there, including former vice president Mike Pence.
—
Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post, 10 Apr. 2024
While national and international agreements seek to limit global warming to 2.7 degrees, or 1.5 degrees Celsius, above preindustrial levels, the planet is already coming perilously close to that threshold, with 2023 expected to be Earth’s hottest year on record.
—Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, 14 Nov. 2023
Fast traveling would mean missing out on the unparalleled feeling of swinging easily around and over skyscrapers; diving perilously close to the ground before flying high into the air remains the best form of locomotion in all of gaming.
—Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 17 Oct. 2023
The vase rested on a credenza placed perilously close to the trajectory of the bed.
—Patricia Marx, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2023
That road sits perilously close to the Nisqually River, running wild as the once-forever ice rivers of Mount Rainier disappear.
—Somini Sengupta, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2023
The traditional wind-in-the-face sports car came perilously close to extinction during the seventies, the victim of an unusual combination of forces.
—Csaba Csere, Car and Driver, 11 Aug. 2023
But there was no chuckling among the crowd of 46,571 in Chavez Ravine in the top of the seventh–only hearty boos echoing through the stadium–when reliever Alex Vesia came perilously close to blowing a three-run lead the Dodgers had worked so hard to achieve.
—Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2023
Gas prices are getting perilously close to $4 per gallon, seen as a tipping point for Americans, AAA said.
—Medora Lee, USA TODAY, 19 Aug. 2023
Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post, 10 Apr. 2024
While national and international agreements seek to limit global warming to 2.7 degrees, or 1.5 degrees Celsius, above preindustrial levels, the planet is already coming perilously close to that threshold, with 2023 expected to be Earth’s hottest year on record.
—Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, 14 Nov. 2023
Fast traveling would mean missing out on the unparalleled feeling of swinging easily around and over skyscrapers; diving perilously close to the ground before flying high into the air remains the best form of locomotion in all of gaming.
—Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 17 Oct. 2023
The vase rested on a credenza placed perilously close to the trajectory of the bed.
—Patricia Marx, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2023
That road sits perilously close to the Nisqually River, running wild as the once-forever ice rivers of Mount Rainier disappear.
—Somini Sengupta, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2023
The traditional wind-in-the-face sports car came perilously close to extinction during the seventies, the victim of an unusual combination of forces.
—Csaba Csere, Car and Driver, 11 Aug. 2023
But there was no chuckling among the crowd of 46,571 in Chavez Ravine in the top of the seventh–only hearty boos echoing through the stadium–when reliever Alex Vesia came perilously close to blowing a three-run lead the Dodgers had worked so hard to achieve.
—Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2023
Gas prices are getting perilously close to $4 per gallon, seen as a tipping point for Americans, AAA said.
—Medora Lee, USA TODAY, 19 Aug. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'perilously close to.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Perilously close to.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perilously%20close%20to. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.
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