on the verge of

Idioms  

1. Close to, on the brink of, as in I was on the verge of calling the doctor when he suddenly got better, or Sara was on the verge of tears when she heard the news. This term uses verge in the sense of “the brink or border of something.” [Mid-1800s]

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Example Sentences

The league is on the verge of locking out its officials for the first time since 2012, when it used sub-standard replacement referees.

From The Wall Street Journal

The league is on the verge of locking out its officials for the first time since 2012, when it used sub-standard replacement referees.

From The Wall Street Journal

Roher and his co-director, Charlie Tyrell, approach AI with much more attention to the worldwide ramifications of its insinuation into our lives than Valerie, as one would expect, although Roher’s motivation is intimately personal: The movie captures him on the verge of first-time fatherhood, and the rise of artificial intelligence has him questioning what kind of world his child will inherit, if any of us have a future at all.

From Salon

City crews were on the verge of welding a manhole cover shut in South Los Angeles Wednesday morning when a surprise discovery stopped them in their tracks.

From Los Angeles Times

The A.I. bubble might finally be on the verge of popping.

From Slate

Related Words

• about
• approximately
• around
• essentially
• most
• much
• practically
• relatively
• roughly
• virtually