on edge

1. Tense, nervous, irritable, as in We were all on edge as we waited for the surgeon's report. This expression transfers the edge of a cutting instrument to one's feelings. [Late 1800s] Also see on the edge; set one's teeth on edge.

Example Sentences

The potential for big purchases is what has Dalio on edge.

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Europe is on edge after a series of unsettling drone incidents in the airspace of North Atlantic Treaty Organization members.

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Traders were on edge as they watched their profits in small stocks disappear, so once bigger shares started to drop they were eager to cash in.

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After finally getting help, he freed himself of “the compulsion to destroy myself. But I still had the demons, the anger, the feeling on edge and never feeling secure.”

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Unfortunately, these tests served mostly to put both East and West on edge, pollute parts of the United States and the former Soviet Union, and make a lot of people sick.

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