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

edgewise

8 7.1
Manage to say something in a conversation when other people talk a lot
  • adverb
  • /ˈɛdʒˌwaɪz/
  • Informal
: 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 cut in
vsedgewise
21 3.5

Interrupt someone who is speaking or doing something

is about managing to speak without forceful interruption
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 chisel in
vsedgewise
  • Informal
1 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
8 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.