verge
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A grass border along a road.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
vurjIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈvɝdʒ
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A grass border along a road
The limit beyond which something happens or changes
figuratively
An extreme limit beyond which something specific will happen.
An edge or border.
An old measure of land: a virgate or yardland.
A circumference; a circle; a ring.
verb
intransitive
To be or come very close; to border; to approach.
“His behavior verges on the criminal.”
To bend or incline; to tend downward; to slope.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A grass border along a road
Used this way, verge 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
- Not strongly marked
- 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 verge
- “His behavior verges on the criminal.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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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.