border on

verb

bordered on; bordering on; borders on

1

: to have a border on (something) : to lie on a boundary of (something)

The area my ancestors come from borders on the Atacama Desert.

2

: to be very like (something) : to come very close to being (something)

The play's dialog borders on the ridiculous.

an enthusiasm bordering on fanaticism

Examples of border on in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

These are not your average concertgoers, says the local police chief, this is more like a football crowd, and as such their passion for the band is tribal, bordering on religious. — Damon Wise, Deadline, 5 Sep. 2026

Lucky for everyone, the mood behind the scenes on Marie Antoinette was much brighter and happier, bordering on silly in the first exclusive clip from the new documentary. — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 2 Sep. 2026

Cleveland Historical said the village of Bratenhal, where the mansion is located, is bordered on three sides by the city of Cleveland and the other is Lake Erie. — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 2 Sep. 2026

Finding the motivation to go again requires a kind of laser focus that can border on the myopic. — Katie Whyatt, New York Times, 1 Sep. 2026

Rhymes for border on

• aileron
• antiphon
• autobahn
• carillon
• castellan
• celadon
• cephalon
• cynodon
• denouement
• deuteron
• echelon
• epsilon