English

Adverb

next to

1. (idiomatic) Almost; nearly.

   It is next to impossible to get him to admit it, but he writes very well.

Preposition

next to

An apple next to a book (1)

1. Beside; alongside.

   Do you mind if I sit next to you?‎

2. Immediately following or preceding in a sequence; just subsequent or previous.

   When you start the next to the last roll, get some more paper.‎

3. Compared to.
   • 2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs.

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