on the edge

1. 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 .

2. 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

It can even be “quite literally an edge,” as when a man stands on the edge of an active volcano.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

With Khalil Mack on injured reserve, the Chargers were boasting a one-man show on the edge — Tuli Tuipulotu leading the team in pressures with 27.

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Now, she’s a mom on the edge, a woman resigned to life’s fringes, where she must tiptoe around live grenades so as not to make anything worse.

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Both goals were clearly avoidable, with the first coming after Arsenal goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar haplessly pushed the ball into her path, and the second arising from a misplaced pass on the edge of the home penalty area.

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"So no prescription for the party works unless we accept that the situation is really bad and we are on the edge of ceasing to exist as a mainstream party."

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Related Words

• insignificant 
• minimal 
• minor 
• negligible