edge — OET · Shobdo

edge

noun

1 the edge of the lake:

border, boundary, extremity, fringe;

margin, side, lip, rim, brim, brink, verge;

perimeter, circumference, periphery, contour, outline;

limit, limits, outer limit, bound, bounds;

literary marge, bourn, skirt.

▷antonyms middle.

2 ‘What do you mean?’ I asked, with an edge in my voice:

sharpness, severity, bite, sting, pointedness, asperity, pungency, mordancy, acerbity, acidity, tartness, trenchancy;

sarcasm, acrimony, malice, spite, venom;

rare causticity, mordacity.

▷antonyms kindness.

3 they have an edge over their rivals:

advantage, lead, head, head start, trump card, the whip hand;

superiority, the upper hand, dominance, ascendancy, supremacy, primacy, precedence, power, mastery, control, sway, authority;

North American, informal the catbird seat;

Australian, New Zealand, informal the box seat.

▷antonyms disadvantage.

□ on edge

she felt on edge and wanted to get moving:

tense, nervous, edgy, highly strung, anxious, apprehensive, uneasy, ill at ease, unsettled, unstable;

excitable, twitchy, jumpy, keyed up, fidgety, restive, skittish, neurotic, brittle, hysterical;

sensitive, insecure;

irritable, touchy, tetchy, testy, crotchety, irascible, peevish, querulous, bad-tempered, short-tempered, hot-tempered, quick-tempered, temperamental, snappy, captious, crabbed, prickly;

British nervy;

informal uptight, wired.

▷antonyms calm.

□ take the edge off

it took the edge off the pain:

allay, assuage, alleviate, ease, relieve, reduce, diminish, decrease, lessen, soothe, soften, dull, cushion, mollify, moderate, calm, lull, temper, mitigate, palliate, blunt, deaden, abate, tone down;

rare lenify.

verb

1 the tall poplars that edged the orchard:

border, fringe, rim, verge, skirt, be alongside;

surround, enclose, encircle, circle, encompass, bound, line, flank.

2 a white party frock edged with lace:

trim, pipe, band, decorate, finish;

border, fringe;

bind, hem.

3 he edged closer to the fire | he edged his way carefully out along the branch:

creep, inch (one's way), worm (one's way), work (one's way), pick one's way, nose (one's way), ease (oneself), ease (one's way), advance slowly;

advance stealthily, sidle, steal, slink.

edge Oxford Dictionary of English