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edge

verb · noun

Simple meaning

A special advantage, or the sharp border of something

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ehj
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɛdʒ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. usually in the form 'just edge'

    To win by a small margin.

  2. transitive

    To form a border to; to enclose, to border.

  3. intransitive

    To move slowly and carefully in a particular direction.

  4. figurative

    To make sharp or keen; to incite; to exasperate; to goad; to urge or egg on.

  5. transitive

    To trim the margin of a lawn where the grass meets the sidewalk, usually with an electric or gas-powered lawn edger.

  6. transitiveslangfiguratively

    To agitate or exasperate (someone) due to constant delays of something.

noun

  1. An advantage.

    “He had an edge on the competition.”

  2. The boundary line of a surface.

  3. also figuratively

    The thin cutting side of the blade of an instrument, such as an ax, knife, sword, or scythe; that which cuts as an edge does, or wounds deeply, etc.

  4. A sharp terminating border; a margin; a brink; an extreme verge.

  5. Sharpness; readiness or fitness to cut; keenness; intenseness of desire.

  6. The border or part adjacent to the line of division; the beginning or early part (of a period of time)

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A sharp terminating border; a margin; a brink; an extreme verge.

Used this way, edge is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use edge

  • “He had an edge on the competition.”noun
  • “He rounded the edges of the box.”noun
  • “The edge of the leaf is wavy.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Thin

cutting edge

Border

top edge

Other combinations

trailing edgeedge detectionupper edge

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • edge toolnounCompound term

    Any cutting tool with a sharp cutting edge (as a chisel or knife or plane or gouge).

  • edge upverbCompound term

    Push one's way into (a space).

  • edge inverbCompound term

    Push one's way into (a space).

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to win by a small margin

abut

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.