↔️ With edge forward 🤐 Barely speak

edgeways

7.5

Hardly able to speak because others talk a lot

adverb
/ˈɛdʒˌweɪz/

: apenas

I tried to speak, but I couldn't get a word in edgeways during the heated debate.

Examples

During the lively conversation, he found it hard even to say hello edgeways.
In the crowded meeting, I couldn't get a word in edgeways with everyone talking at once.
She slipped the paper into the narrow slot edgeways to make it fit.
While discussing the project, I struggled to find a way to contribute edgeways between my colleagues' opinions.
When the team debated the new strategy, I barely managed to interject edgeways.

Synonyms

edgewise

vsedgeways

Informal

1 7.1

Manage to say something in a conversation when other people talk a lot

has the same sense but appears as an alternative written form

How Easy

easily

∞ 1.0

edgeways

7.5

hardly

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

edgeways positive

Morphology

edgeways = edge (semi-transparent) = edge + ways

Formally built from 'edge' + '-ways', but the idiomatic sense 'barely / as if by an edge' is metaphorical and not fully predictable.

Etymology

Edgeways combines edge and ways, and a helpful way to remember the phrase 'get a word in edgeways' is to imagine trying to slip in along the narrow edge. So the word also means 'barely' or 'only just', which explains why you can only just manage to say something.