on the edge
Idioms-
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 .
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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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Zandi said there had not been mass layoffs, but that many companies were "right on the edge."
From Barron's • May 13, 2026
I felt the sense of possibility when I was leaving his house in Ann Arbor, a man on the edge of doing something no one like him has ever done before.
From Slate • Apr. 29, 2026
The days of dumping trash on the edge of town and lighting a match were ending.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026
It is about friendship and creativity and New York City, specifically the East Village when you didn’t walk past First Avenue alone, on the edge of gentrification and the 1988 Tompkins Square Park riots.
From Salon • Apr. 28, 2026
Only one of the palace’s towers still stood, and even that one looked to be on the edge of collapse.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
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.
