How to Use verge on/upon in a Sentence

verge on/upon

phrasal verb
  • Yet the stories that emerge from these wars can verge on their own sort of mythmaking.
    Gregg Carlstrom, Foreign Affairs, 6 Mar. 2024
  • Like Ebb Tide, the flower color can verge on black velvet.
    Benjamin Whitacre, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Feb. 2023
  • Friends who verge on weeping openly over what’s happened to it.
    Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 1 June 2024
  • But, the devotion of the Australian soccer fan can verge on absurd.
    Naaman Zhou, The New Yorker, 22 Nov. 2022
  • The hardest part of starting a conversation with a stranger is finding an excuse to talk to them that didn’t verge on the creepy.
    Martin Fritz Huber, Outside Online, 12 Jan. 2023
  • From warm sage tones to deep pine hues that verge on black, dark greens are bold and dramatic, yet have the ability to act as a neutral.
    Maria Sabella, Better Homes & Gardens, 19 Sep. 2024
  • Their performances in this gonzo sci-fi fest verge on camp, as does the movie's Grand Guignol sense of violence.
    Katie Rife, EW.com, 18 Oct. 2024
  • Their performances in this gonzo sci-fi fest verge on camp, as does the movie's Grand Guignol sense of violence.
    Katie Rife, EW.com, 19 Oct. 2023
  • As Kline freely admits, works like these verge on agitprop.
    Zoë Lescaze, New York Times, 17 Mar. 2023
  • For some parents, the thought of boarding a long-haul flight to Hawaii with kids might verge on nightmare territory.
    Parents, 13 May 2024
  • Maui, Hawaii For some parents, the thought of boarding a long-haul flight to Hawaii with kids might verge on nightmare territory.
    Lindsay Cohn, Parents, 13 May 2024
  • Some of the potatoes verge on foamy from being suspended in their gloopy atmosphere for so long, but c’est la vie!
    Alex Beggs, Bon Appétit, 25 Apr. 2024
  • As the set wore on, both sides found themselves on the verge on set points, but the other team continuously battled back.
    BostonGlobe.com, 6 June 2021
  • In recent seasons, the over-the-top looks seen on the show, which can verge on the impractical, have become memes on social media.
    Brande Victorian, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Aug. 2023
  • Wooden paneling and furniture are present in every room, but not once does the decor verge on gauche.
    Lydia Mansel, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Jan. 2024
  • This movie isn't for the faint of heart, especially during the h artistic and trippy dance sequences that verge on body horror.
    Kevin Jacobsen, EW.com, 22 June 2024
  • Smut even suggests Maas' titles verge on erotica, which is also a genre with immense worth and full of great writers.
    Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 1 Feb. 2024
  • At times the project of cataloging, or indeed defining, the threads of centuries of free thinking can verge on overly ambitious.
    Lauren Jackson, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2023
  • And then there are mountain peaks and other places that verge on inaccessible to humans.
    Michelle Theriault Boots, Anchorage Daily News, 24 Aug. 2021
  • In Japan and Britain, so much of the coastline is reinforced with concrete and rocks that natural beaches now verge on extinction.
    Taras Grescoe, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 July 2022
  • The 23-year-old with curly black hair is thoughtful and detail-oriented, given to long answers that verge on philosophical.
    Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2022
  • To really lean into this cozy look, dial up the temperature even more with shades that verge on peach or terra-cotta.
    Jessica Bennett, Better Homes & Gardens, 23 Feb. 2022
  • Later on, the Moon conjoins expansive Jupiter to give us a double dose of optimistic luck -- that said, this could verge on overconfidence.
    Tarot Astrologers, Chicago Tribune, 11 July 2023
  • There are sequels; there are spinoffs; there are live-action retellings; there are brand extensions that verge on the mystifyingly abstract.
    Molly Fischer, The New Yorker, 13 June 2022
  • So yeah, like VanMoof, Cowboy e-bikes are high-tech proprietary computers-on-wheels with a feature set that can, at times, verge on gimmickry.
    Thomas Ricker, The Verge, 21 July 2023
  • The group’s seizure of Russian military sites sowed chaos, appearing to verge on open war with military authorities.
    Miriam Berger and Adam Taylor, Anchorage Daily News, 24 June 2023
  • The bottom of the leg is designed with pre-bent knees for unrestricted pedaling, while the slim cut through the thigh delivers a flattering silhouette that doesn’t verge on tight or compressive.
    Kevin Brouillard, Travel + Leisure, 15 Feb. 2023
  • Honesty is non-negotiable for Humberstone, whose songs verge on the deeply personal and often self-critical.
    Ellise Shafer, Variety, 13 Oct. 2023
  • The motivation behind their crime is so complex and unlikely as to verge on nonsensical.
    Time, 12 July 2023
  • Alongside such wishful uninhibitedness are scenes that verge on parody, as when Sam and another boy enjoy a lobster-and-champagne lunch on the beach, and the boy hands over a copy of Thomas Mann’s stories.
    New York Times, 5 Apr. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'verge on/upon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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