at hand

1. 1.

   close in space; within reach

   “the town is close at hand”

   Synonymsclose at hand

   Similarclose
2. 2.

   close in time; about to occur

   “retribution is at hand”

   “some people believe the day of judgment is close at hand”

   “in imminent danger”

   “his impending retirement”

   Synonymsclose at handimminentimpendentimpending

   Similarclose

Questions about at hand

What does at hand mean?

at hand means "close in space; within reach". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for at hand?

Close synonyms include close at hand, close at hand, imminent, impendent, impending. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is at hand a common word?

at hand is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.