border on

phrasal 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

As many as nine highway-style lanes of speeding, noisy traffic, bordered on either side by a narrow string of popular beaches, winding paths shared by throngs of cyclists and pedestrians, and perilously unprotected but heavily used on-road bike lanes. —Andres Viglucci, Miami Herald, 23 May 2025

This proliferation of toys makes tidying difficult, bordering on impossible, leading to household conflicts. —Stephanie Ganz, Parents, 16 May 2025

Best Thursday night matchup: 49ers at Rams, Week 5 There was a time when Thursday night matchups bordered on unwatchable, but not anymore. —Mike Jones, New York Times, 16 May 2025

Away sides needing to ‘take the crowd out of the game’ borders on cliche; few stadiums can sway a result like this one, when there is something riding on it. —Harry De Cosemo, Forbes.com, 9 May 2025

Rhymes for border on

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