ragged edge

American  

noun

1. the brink, as of a cliff.

2. any extreme edge; verge.

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idioms

1. on the ragged edge, in a dangerous or precarious position; on the verge or brink of.

   on the ragged edge of despair.

Etymology

Origin of ragged edge

An Americanism dating back to 1875–80

Example Sentences

The last few years I've been off balance, right on the ragged edge of my technique where that if I have to push a little bit more, I lose it.

From BBC • Aug. 28, 2024

But this sleek atmosphere conceals a ragged edge.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 2, 2023

This keeps the paint from tearing and creating a ragged edge.

From Washington Post • Jun. 5, 2020

Yet she was born in Oklahoma, where her family, as she put it, was “on the ragged edge of the middle class … kind of hanging on at the edges by our fingernails.”

From Seattle Times • Jun. 14, 2019

He’d been trying not to look beyond the ragged edge of the backyard to the bulldozed mess of branches, trunks, leaves, and mud that had once been his beloved woods.

From "Among the Hidden" by Margaret Peterson Haddix