edge

noun

\ ˈej

Definition of edge

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : the cutting side of a blade a razor's edge

b : the sharpness of a blade a knife with no edge

c(1) : force, effectiveness blunted the edge of the legislation

(2) : vigor or energy especially of body maintains his hard edge

d(1) : incisive or penetrating quality writing with a satirical edge

(2) : a noticeably harsh or sharp quality her voice had an edge to it

(3) : a secondary but distinct quality rock music with a bluesy edge

e : keenness or intensity of desire or enjoyment lost my competitive edge

2a : the line where an object or area begins or ends : border on the edge of a plain

b : the narrow part adjacent to a border the edge of the deck

c(1) : a point near the beginning or the end especially : brink, verge on the edge of disaster

(2) : the threshold of danger or ruin living on the edge

d : a favorable margin : advantage has an edge on the competition

3 : a line or line segment that is the intersection of two plane faces (as of a pyramid) or of two planes

on edge

: anxious, nervous

edge

verb

edged; edging

Definition of edge (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1a : to give an edge to

b : to be on an edge of trees edging the lake

2 : to move or force gradually edged him off the road

3 : to incline (a ski) sideways so that one edge cuts into the snow

4 : to defeat by a small margin —often used with out edged out her opponent

intransitive verb

: to advance by short moves

Other Words from edge Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about edge

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Examples of edge in a Sentence

Noun

They peered over the edge of the roof. The fabric was frayed at the edge. He made us all nervous by standing so close to the edge of the cliff. She sat on the edge of the counter, swinging her legs. the edge of an ax His voice had a sarcastic edge. These amendments will blunt the edge of the legislation.

Verb

Edge the sleeve with lace. She edged away from him. Gasoline prices have been edging upward. I edged my chair closer to the table.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

The boats, tied up next to one another along the edge of the beach, were kissing. — Lily Tuck, WSJ, "‘Arturo’s Island’ Review: Childhood’s End," 22 Feb. 2019 And an explosion of blue-and-white patterns in one of the homeowners’ sons' rooms is punctuated with poppy-like orange, the door revealing a clever stripe of it along the edge once opened. — Kaitlin Menza, House Beautiful, "Every Wall of This Upper East Side Apartment Is Interesting," 12 Feb. 2019 Slip the cleat in between the ends of the box and spread a little glue along the upper edge of the cleat. — Joseph Truini, Popular Mechanics, "Three Ways to Build Your Own Shelves," 24 Jan. 2019 Finish off with a light dusting of loose translucent powder applied with a small brush along the edges of the lips to guarantee a flake-free look that won’t budge—even through mistletoe kisses. — Jenna Rennert, Vogue, "Dakota Johnson's Makeup Artist on How To Make Red Lipstick Last All Night," 31 Dec. 2018 On the outside, the McLaren 6T has a fluorescent orange highlight along the bottom edge of the phone’s frame, and a glossy black finish with a carbon fiber pattern weave under the back glass. — Dan Seifert, The Verge, "The most expensive OnePlus phone ever," 11 Dec. 2018 That edge may be eroding — to San Francisco’s benefit. — Natasha Mascarenhas, SFChronicle.com, "The new Silicon Valley has cable cars and an orange bridge," 12 July 2018 But this extreme met its match in another: Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski turned heads with their microbangs at Tomo Koizumi, and Rachel Comey’s models walked the runway with cutting-edge chops. — Zoe Ruffner, Vogue, "The 5 Most Show-Stealing Beauty Trends at New York Fashion Week," 14 Feb. 2019 The Air Force’s solution aims the most cutting-edge sports technology at young airmen. — Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, "The Air Force Is Changing How Special Ops Fighters Are Trained," 12 Feb. 2019

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Residential building permits, which can signal how much construction is in the pipeline, edged up 0.3% from November to an annual pace of 1.326 million. ... — Harriet Torry, WSJ, "U.S. Housing Starts End 2018 on Soft Note," 26 Feb. 2019 While a trademark Beckham free kick edged them past Ecuador and into another quarter final against Portugal. — SI.com, "World Cup Countdown - 3 Weeks to Go: England's 'Golden Generation' Fail to Deliver in Germany," 4 June 2018 The Wolverines were edged by Arrowhead for the title in that race. — Mark Stewart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Waukesha West girls deliver late, win Division 1 state track title," 2 June 2018 To ask whether a Spears-like reversal might happen regarding Carey—no more chuckling about New Year’s Eve 2016, maybe—is to edge into another dicey topic: believability. — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, "When a 'Diva' Is Diagnosed," 11 Apr. 2018 That figure edges up to 88% of staffers at the best small and medium-size workplaces. — Ed Frauenheim, Fortune, "The Secrets of One of Texas's Best Companies to Work For," 20 Mar. 2018 The rate edged up to 4% in January, the department said earlier this month, but the increase was largely due to the partial government shutdown which caused some federal workers to be counted as temporarily unemployed. — Eric Morath, WSJ, "Job Openings Push Further into Record Territory at End of 2018," 12 Feb. 2019 The dollar edged up to 113.80 yen from 113.48 yen late Tuesday in Asia. — Yuri Kageyama, The Seattle Times, "Asian stocks mixed after wobbly trading on Wall Street," 27 Nov. 2018 Disney edged up 89 cents to $106.99 while Comcast rose 8 cents to $32.89. — Mae Anderson, chicagotribune.com, "Disney ups offer for Twenty-First Century Fox to more than $70.3B," 20 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'edge.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for edge

Noun

Middle English egge, going back to Old English ecg "cutting side of a blade, border," going back to Germanic *agjō "cutting side of a blade" (whence also Old Frisian eg "cutting side of a blade, sword," Old Saxon eggia, Old High German egga, ekka "cutting side of a blade, border, point, corner," Old Norse egg "cutting side of a blade"), feminine noun derivative from Indo-European *h₂eḱ- "sharp, pointed," whence also Latin aciēs "sharp part of a weapon"

Note: The base *h₂eḱ- "sharp, pointed" was productive of a large number of suffixed derivatives in the Indo-European daughter languages. Latin had a verbal base deriving from h₂eḱ-eh₁- "to be sharp" (see acetic acid, acid entry 2) and a presumed adjectival stem *acū- "sharp" (see acute). An apparently isolated derivative is Greek akmḗ "highest point" (see acme). For the derivative *h₂eḱ-r-/h₂oḱ-r-, with outcomes in Greek, Latin, and other languages, see acro-, mediocre. See also awn, ear entry 2.