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Glite Dictionary
🗣️ To speak briefly 🗝️ With the edge first
edgewise

edgewise

1 7.1
Manage to say something in a conversation when other people talk a lot
  • adverb
  • /ˈɛdʒˌwaɪz/
  • Informal
translation icon : interrumpir
  • And at the very end, when I guess allowed them to get a word in edgewise, the first thing Christie said was, I now have the perfect word for you.
  • get a word in edgewise

Now throughout this, you may be trying to get in a word edgewise, perhaps to clarify yourself, but you can't.

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Examples

  • And that means in part, I'm blaming him for this, that I am an interrupter because if I don't get my word in edgewise, I'm not going to get in.

  • Now, throughout this, you may be trying to get in a word edgewise, perhaps to clarify yourself, but you can't.

  • At least I could get a word in edgewise with the girl, "and out he goes.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Gentlemen, gentlemen, we'll not get any words in here edgewise.

    ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction (2010)

  • Waiting for you to take a breath, ma, so I can get a word in edgewise.

    The Thing Called Love (1993)

  • Now throughout this, you may be trying to get in a word edgewise, perhaps to clarify yourself, but you can't.

    DoctorRamani

  • What did the blonde say to her husband, who would not let her get in a word edgewise about how to cook the corn for Thanksgiving?

  • During the heated discussion, I struggled to get a word in edgewise among all the interruptions.

  • She kept talking so much that I couldn't get a word in edgewise during the meeting.

  • Even though I had important points to make, it was hard to get a word in edgewise with everyone else speaking at once.

Synonyms

to get a word in edgewise
vsedgewise
  • Informal
8 8.1

Find a chance to say something when others keep talking

is the single-word form mainly used inside that phrase
to cut in
vsedgewise
6 3.5

Interrupt someone who is speaking or doing something

is about managing to speak without forceful interruption
to chisel in
vsedgewise
  • Informal
7.7

Interrupt someone who is speaking by joining their conversation without waiting

is about finding space to speak rather than barging in

Idioms

to get a word in edgewise
  • Informal
8 8.1

Find a chance to say something when others keep talking

How Easy

easily
∞ 1.0
edgewise
  • Informal
1 7.1
hardly
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

edgewise positive

Morphology

edgewise = edge (semi-transparent) = edge + wise

Formed from 'edge' + '-wise' but extended metaphorically in the idiom 'get a word in edgewise' to mean managing to speak, which is not directly predictable from the literal spatial sense.

Etymology

Edgewise appears in the phrase get a word in edgewise, which gives a clear picture: imagine slipping a thin card 'edgewise' into a small gap. A helpful way to remember the phrase is that it means 'to manage to say something' when others are talking a lot.