Definition of "near thing" [near thing]

• Something that barely succeeds or nearly ends in failure or disaster. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "She hadn't shut up the whole way, damning the administration and bullying her bearers: Colin Mackenzie said it was a near thing which was more fearsome — a Ghazi leaping from the rocks yelling murder, or Lady Sale's red nose emerging from a tent demanding to know why the water was not thoroughly boiling."