push the envelope

phrase

: to go beyond the usual or normal limits by doing something new, dangerous, etc.

a director who has pushed the envelope in his recent films

a new airplane design that pushes the envelope

Examples of push the envelope in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But, as developers across the board push the envelope for cutting-edge graphics, buying a PC or video card that can run the RPG smoothly—without turning it into a pool of pixel mush or a stutter fest at one frame per second—can be expensive. — Aman Kumar, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Sep. 2026

Anthropic and OpenAI argue that these new releases push the envelope at the frontier (albeit mostly in modest ways), while bringing costs substantially down. — Samuel Axon, ArsTechnica, 22 Sep. 2026

Also, in producing more original films, which push the envelope on narrative or visuals, filmmakers are making a virtue out of a market necessity. — John Hopewell, Variety, 18 Sep. 2026

At the top, with someone who wants to push the envelope instead of compensate and play catchup. — Mirjam Swanson, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2026

Rhymes for push the envelope

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• bronchoscope
• cantaloupe
• cystoscope
• endoscope
• epitope
• gyroscope
• horoscope
• isotope
• microscope
• misanthrope
• pericope