on the edge of

phrase

: very close to (something)
a species on the edge of extinction
The company was teetering on the edge of disaster/bankruptcy.
He was on the edge of saying something when the phone rang.

Examples of on the edge of in a Sentence

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Between these spaces exists a world balanced on the edge of the modern and the primitive, the high-tech and the rural, the corporeal and the mythic. — Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 31 Aug. 2026 Afterward, a few friends made the half-mile trek east to the Mabee Center on the edge of campus. — Sam McDowell, Kansas City Star, 30 Aug. 2026 Rights groups say the increasing settler presence on the edge of Palestinian villages, like Qusra, is part of a wider effort by settlers to seize more land from Palestinians, further eating into territory where Palestinians aim to establish a state. — Pesha Magid Reuters, Arkansas Online, 30 Aug. 2026 And the Peaches and Pea, a drink that teeters on the edge of cloying, heavy-handed with peach oleo-saccharum. — Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for on the edge of

Rhymes for on the edge of

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Browse Nearby Words

on the drawing board
on the edge of
on the edge of a precipice
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“On the edge of.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/on%20the%20edge%20of. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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