hand's-breadth
Britishnoun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Every little pebble was distinct, every speckled trout, every hand’s-breadth of sand,” Mark Twain wrote of his unimpeded glimpse into Lake Tahoe’s depths in “Roughing It.”
From New York Times • Jan. 14, 2013
I have a bed which is about a hand's-breadth wide .
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
No eye can venture to compass more than a hand's-breadth.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
The dark foliage shuts out the light; scarcely a hand's-breadth of blue sky can be seen among the branches overhead.
From 'O Thou, My Austria!' by Schubin, Ossip
When they are at right angles to the boat, my sculls overlap so much that there is a hand's-breadth of space in between my crossed hands.
From Rowing by Lehmann, Rudolf Chambers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.