edgy
Americanadjective
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nervously irritable; impatient and anxious.
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sharp-edged; sharply defined, as outlines.
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daringly innovative; on the cutting edge.
adjective
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(usually postpositive) nervous, irritable, tense, or anxious
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(of paintings, drawings, etc) excessively defined
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innovative, or at the cutting edge, with the concomitant qualities of intensity and excitement
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of edgy
Explanation
If you're edgy, you're uptight, tense, or anxious. You might find yourself getting nervous and edgy right before you take a difficult test. A tendency to get edgy — irritable and jittery — might be a result of too much coffee, or just a personality trait. It's not a very helpful habit in most cases, leading you to snap at other people or just feel tense. An informal way to use edgy is to mean "experimental or daring." In the 18th century, something edgy literally had sharp edges, but by the early 1800s it came to mean "tense and irritable."
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.
See Examples For:
A bold, open-concept great room is the heart of the 3,504-square-foot home, where an edgy chef’s kitchen featuring a black-and-white, harlequin-tiled backsplash immediately catches the eye.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026
In art circles, Mirabelle is known for co-founding the edgy New York gallery Rivington Arms, and Melia is a Harvard-educated chef who helped turn The Smile into a chic NoHo cafe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
"It's going to be really edgy," says Madrid's own F3 driver Bruno del Pino.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
Phil became an opera company and Disney an almost fullfledged opera house, staging Mozart’s three Da Ponte operas with sets by famed architects, beginning with Gehry, and costumes by edgy designers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
There’s also nervousness swirling about him, edgy as you please, much as he’s trying to cover it.
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
“We can continue to make and develop and release these edgier, older-skewing animated films while also playing the hits with franchises and sequels and prequels and spin-offs. Audiences want both things.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
Some have rejected the film as flimsy satire; others have wanted its message to be edgier and more obvious.
From Salon ● Apr. 9, 2026
But you and Travis present a masculinity that reads a little differently than some of the edgier “manosphere” stuff.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025
"If it was edgy to do jeans for November 1988, I think it was even edgier for her to do Madonna," says Amy Odell, author of Anna: The Biography.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2025
Jason had been having the same feeling, but hearing Nico say it made him even edgier.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
After performing stand-up around New York, he appeared on HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam” — The Times reviewer David Kronke called his 1993 performance “the evening’s funniest, edgiest set” — and moved to Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
Every Disney movie raises us to recognize that villains always get the best lines, the edgiest wardrobes and, sometimes, the most darling pets.
From Salon ● Jan. 28, 2026
The result is a strong culinary heritage that even the edgiest chefs hold sacred — and, of course, draws food worshipers from around the world.
From New York Times ● Jul. 19, 2022
And there’s one of the edgiest tracks yet from the band — “Cutthroat,” an anthem about killing the critic inside of you.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 30, 2021
It remains one of SNL’s edgiest efforts to date.
From Washington Post ● May 20, 2021
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
