How to Use verge on/upon in a Sentence
verge on/upon
phrasal verb- 
        
            Yet the stories that emerge from these wars can verge on their own sort of mythmaking.
                        
 —Gregg Carlstrom, Foreign Affairs, 6 Mar. 2024 
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            Like Ebb Tide, the flower color can verge on black velvet.
                        
 —Benjamin Whitacre, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Feb. 2023 
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            Friends who verge on weeping openly over what’s happened to it.
                        
 —Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 1 June 2024 
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            But, the devotion of the Australian soccer fan can verge on absurd.
                        
 —Naaman Zhou, The New Yorker, 22 Nov. 2022 
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            The hardest part of starting a conversation with a stranger is finding an excuse to talk to them that didn’t verge on the creepy.
                        
 —Martin Fritz Huber, Outside Online, 12 Jan. 2023 
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            From warm sage tones to deep pine hues that verge on black, dark greens are bold and dramatic, yet have the ability to act as a neutral.
                        
 —Maria Sabella, Better Homes & Gardens, 19 Sep. 2024 
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            Their performances in this gonzo sci-fi fest verge on camp, as does the movie's Grand Guignol sense of violence.
                        
 —Katie Rife, EW.com, 19 Oct. 2023 
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            Their performances in this gonzo sci-fi fest verge on camp, as does the movie's Grand Guignol sense of violence.
                        
 —Katie Rife, EW.com, 18 Oct. 2024 
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            As Kline freely admits, works like these verge on agitprop.
                        
 —Zoë Lescaze, New York Times, 17 Mar. 2023 
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            For some parents, the thought of boarding a long-haul flight to Hawaii with kids might verge on nightmare territory.
                        
 —Parents, 13 May 2024 
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            Maui, Hawaii For some parents, the thought of boarding a long-haul flight to Hawaii with kids might verge on nightmare territory.
                        
 —Lindsay Cohn, Parents, 13 May 2024 
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            Some of the potatoes verge on foamy from being suspended in their gloopy atmosphere for so long, but c’est la vie!
                        
 —Alex Beggs, Bon Appétit, 25 Apr. 2024 
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            As the set wore on, both sides found themselves on the verge on set points, but the other team continuously battled back.
                        
 —BostonGlobe.com, 6 June 2021 
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            In recent seasons, the over-the-top looks seen on the show, which can verge on the impractical, have become memes on social media.
                        
 —Brande Victorian, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Aug. 2023 
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            Wooden paneling and furniture are present in every room, but not once does the decor verge on gauche.
                        
 —Lydia Mansel, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Jan. 2024 
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            This movie isn't for the faint of heart, especially during the h artistic and trippy dance sequences that verge on body horror.
                        
 —Kevin Jacobsen, EW.com, 22 June 2024 
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            Smut even suggests Maas' titles verge on erotica, which is also a genre with immense worth and full of great writers.
                        
 —Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 1 Feb. 2024 
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            At times the project of cataloging, or indeed defining, the threads of centuries of free thinking can verge on overly ambitious.
                        
 —Lauren Jackson, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2023 
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            And then there are mountain peaks and other places that verge on inaccessible to humans.
                        
 —Michelle Theriault Boots, Anchorage Daily News, 24 Aug. 2021 
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            In Japan and Britain, so much of the coastline is reinforced with concrete and rocks that natural beaches now verge on extinction.
                        
 —Taras Grescoe, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 July 2022 
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            Howell asked him to testify to assess whether such a fine would verge on punitive, instead of serving to coerce him to comply with the agreement.
                        
 —Ella Lee, The Hill, 10 Jan. 2025 
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            The 23-year-old with curly black hair is thoughtful and detail-oriented, given to long answers that verge on philosophical.
                        
 —Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2022 
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            To really lean into this cozy look, dial up the temperature even more with shades that verge on peach or terra-cotta.
                        
 —Jessica Bennett, Better Homes & Gardens, 23 Feb. 2022 
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            Later on, the Moon conjoins expansive Jupiter to give us a double dose of optimistic luck -- that said, this could verge on overconfidence.
                        
 —Tarot Astrologers, Chicago Tribune, 11 July 2023 
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            There are sequels; there are spinoffs; there are live-action retellings; there are brand extensions that verge on the mystifyingly abstract.
                        
 —Molly Fischer, The New Yorker, 13 June 2022 
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            So yeah, like VanMoof, Cowboy e-bikes are high-tech proprietary computers-on-wheels with a feature set that can, at times, verge on gimmickry.
                        
 —Thomas Ricker, The Verge, 21 July 2023 
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            Not that Allen wasn’t above poking fun at a friend: In many of their films together, Allen presented Roberts as so cool-headed as to verge on the comically supercilious.
                        
 —Peter Tonguette, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 21 Feb. 2025 
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            The group’s seizure of Russian military sites sowed chaos, appearing to verge on open war with military authorities.
                        
 —Miriam Berger and Adam Taylor, Anchorage Daily News, 24 June 2023 
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            The bottom of the leg is designed with pre-bent knees for unrestricted pedaling, while the slim cut through the thigh delivers a flattering silhouette that doesn’t verge on tight or compressive.
                        
 —Kevin Brouillard, Travel + Leisure, 15 Feb. 2023 
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            But Ricky struggles with underbaked narrative threads and breathless direction that can verge on unfocused.
                        
 —Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019 
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'verge on/upon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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