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Glite Dictionary
to verge on

to verge on

4 5.6
To be almost in an extreme or bad state
  • phrasal verb
  • /vɜrdʒ ɑn/
translation icon : rozar con
  • As any thoughtful person understands, the framing of this question as an either-or dichotomy verges on the nonsensical.

I'm going to say no because it's verging on a little bit of aggression.

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Examples

  • Rita laughed, but it was a laughter that verged on tears.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • This verges on failure.

    Robot Monster (1953)

  • In the books that draw on his childhood, the sexual material can verge on the creepy.

    Academic text (2010)

  • There was some portions of this experience that were uncomfortable, verging on terrifying.

    The Prof G Pod – Scott Galloway

  • Fighting in parts of the country among rival black political factions now verges on civil war.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Several executives made statements that verged on acknowledgments of an agreement not to pursue other teams' players.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Some of the cases verge on the ludicrous; others are simply disquieting.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Yet in the midst of a longing that verged on grief, Beverly could not hold back a smile.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • For Danes, it offers a self-image that verges on sainthood.

    Academic text (1998)

  • The team's performance verged on excellence, impressing everyone at the tournament.

Synonyms

to border on
vsto verge on
30 5.2

To be almost an extreme or bad state

is used for near states whether negative or not
to verge
vsto verge on
6 5.1

To come very close to being something

is more often used for closeness to negative or extreme conditions

How Close

to verge on
4 5.6
to border on
30 5.2
to approach
532 2.1

Surface Forms

verge on infinitive
verged on past
verged on past participle
verging on present participle
verges on third person singular

Morphology

verge + on

The meaning is directly built from 'verge' (brink/threshold) plus the preposition 'on' indicating relation/location, so a learner who knows both words can infer 'to be at the brink of' or 'very close to' a state. This compositional pattern mirrors phrases like 'on the verge of' and has clear equivalents in other languages, making the expression immediately comprehensible.

Etymology

Verge on comes from the image of being at an edge: verge means the edge and on shows you are standing there, like a person at the edge of a cliff almost stepping over. So it means 'to be very close to' a particular state or quality.