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.
The Christmas show was based on Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, a play created in 2016 by Edgy Productions, an education organisation which produces scripts and music for schools and youth theatre groups.
From BBC • Nov. 25, 2025
Edgy and tough but charismatic, she’s alternately boosted and tripped up by her even more magnetic onetime diplomat husband.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 31, 2023
Edgy and challenging work may rankle traditionalists, so we must find ways to be “both/and,” retaining current relationships while urgently cultivating new ones.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 25, 2023
Edgy up my Batman, sure, but if the life-affirming silliness of Clueless goes over to the dark side, I will, as Cher says, be buggin’.
From The Guardian • Oct. 19, 2019
Edgy and sharp, but with kindness somewhere inside him, ready to slip out when I need it.
From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman
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.
