‘A Hop, Skip, and a Jump Away’: Definition, Meaning and Examples

Have you heard someone use the phrase ‘a hop, skip, and a jump away’, and now you’re wondering what it means? In this article, we’ll take a look at the meaning, origin, examples, and more.

In short:

• ‘A hop, skip, and a jump away’ means something is very close.

Essentially, it refers to something being a very short distance away.

What Does ‘A Hop, Skip, and a Jump Away’ Mean?

‘A hop, skip, and a jump away’ is a phrase that refers to something being a short distance away. You might hear other idiomatic expressions that mean the same thing, such as ‘a stone’s throw away.’

People use the phrase in everyday language when referring to something not too far away.

For example, you might hear someone say:

‘Go to the store for me, will you? It’s a hop, skip, and, a jump away. It will only take about five minutes.’

In the movie, Peter Pan, the directions to Blindman’s Bluff were:

A hop, skip, and a jump across Crocodile Creek.’

Someone might describe a short flight (under an hour) as ‘a hop, skip, and a jump away.’

In the spoof movie Scary Movie, one of the main characters, Bobby (Cindy’s boyfriend), lives ‘a hop, skip, and a jump away’ from the school…literally.

We find out once the camera pans away from his trailer full of relatives that he’s actually right on the school campus, right next to the entrance.

Where Does ‘A Hop, Skip, and a Jump Away’ Come From? 

The phrase ‘a hop, skip, and a jump away’ comes from the 1700s, when the phrase ‘hop, step, and jump’ referred to a dance move.

By 1760, the phrase became ‘hop, skip, and a jump,’ but it wasn’t until the early to mid-1800s that the term came to be referred to as a short distance.

Examples of ‘A Hop, Skip, and a Jump Away’ in Sentences 

How would you use ‘a hop, skip, and a jump away’ in a sentence?

Let’s see some examples:

• Can you go to the store for me? It’s just a hop, skip, and a jump away. I promise.
• Go check on my sweater from the downstairs laundry room, will you? It's just a hop, skip, and a jump away. My sweater's the one that has that weird color stain on it. See if mom got it out for me yet.
• We were going to go to the mall today after school. It’s just a hop, skip, and a jump away, so our parents won’t even know we made the detour.
• Let’s do something different for date night this week. How about we go to a museum for a change? It’s only a hop, skip, and a jump away from the restaurant we’re having dinner. What do you say?
• My best friend’s house is a hop, skip, and a jump away from mine, which makes everything perfect. We do everything together, and our moms are best friends, too. It made my day when I found out she was moving onto our block.
• Everything in our small town is just a hop, skip, and a jump away. It’s what our residents love most about the town. There are few highways and a lot of green grass. Here, the grass really is greener on the other side.
• Believe it or not, the airport is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from here. This is the perfect apartment because you can’t actually hear the airplanes all that much, but you’re still close enough to the airport to never miss a flight!
• I just moved here, but I heard that everything is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from your house. Is that true?

Other Ways to Say ‘A Hop, Skip, and a Jump Away’

What are some other words and phrases that have a similar meaning to ‘a hop, skip, and a jump away’?

Here are some examples:

• Not far off
• Not far away
• Convenient
• Accessible
• Handy
• Nearby
• Available
• Close/close to
• Immediate
• Nigh
• Reachable
• Central
• At close quarters to
• Close-by
• On deck
• Not far from
• Within easy reach of
• Within spitting distance
• Adjacent to
• Within reach
• Next door
• Next to
• Under one’s nose
• Easy to reach
• Just around the corner
• Close-up
• In close proximity
• Within sniffing distance
• Alongside
• Local
• Neighboring
• In the area
• Walkable
• A stone’s throw away
• Within earshot
• In the vicinity of
• In the ballpark of
• Within sight
• On your doorstep
• Within range
• In the neighborhood of
• Skip and a jump away from
• Pretty close to

Final Thoughts on ‘A Hop, Skip, and a Jump Away’

To recap, we learned the following:

• ‘A hop, skip, and a jump away’ means something is very close.

Essentially, it refers to something being a very short distance away.

If you ever forget the meaning or how to use it in a sentence, you can always come back and review what you learned. We’ve also got a ton of other content on Idioms you might see as you’re learning the language. Go check it out anytime.