on the edge
Idioms-
In a precarious position; also, in a state of keen excitement, as from danger or risk. For example, When the stock market crashed, their whole future was on the edge , or Skydivers obviously must enjoy living on the edge .
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on the edge of . On the point of doing something, as in He was on the edge of winning the election when the sex scandal broke . [c. 1600] Both def. 1 and 2 allude to the danger of falling over the edge of a precipice.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
About 200 people gathered near Newtownards Road, a unionist area on the edge of Belfast city centre.
From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026
Lebanon has long teetered on the edge of being a failed state.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026
Slice up cucumbers, red onions, carrots, radishes, jalapeños — whatever vegetables you have hovering on the edge of being forgotten — and drop them into the jar.
From Salon • May 28, 2026
The company famously teetered on the edge of bankruptcy in 1996, surviving only through a $5 million cash injection from the Japanese videogame developer Sega.
From MarketWatch • May 23, 2026
“Riding out to some industrial park on the edge of the city is part of our original mission?”
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
