border on
phrasal verb
bordered on; bordering on; borders on
1
: to have a border on (something) : to lie on a boundary of (something)
The area my ancestors come from borders on the Atacama Desert.
2
: to be very like (something) : to come very close to being (something)
The play's dialog borders on the ridiculous.
an enthusiasm bordering on fanaticism
Examples of border on in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Advertisement One serious playoff run in all those years, with the riches that have been pumped into the franchise more recently borders on unimaginable.
—
Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 May 2024
As fighting continued to flare along the Russia-Ukraine border on Saturday, civilians fleeing for their lives stepped out of evacuation vans one by one, some on unsteady legs.
—Jeffrey Gettleman Emile Ducke, New York Times, 11 May 2024
The sillage bordered on overwhelming, particularly on humid days when the scent clung to the wet air.
—Lily Stewart, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 May 2024
Amtrak Cascades Cross over the United States' northern border on Amtrak Cascades, stretching from Vancouver, Canada to Eugene, Oregon, passing through Portland and Seattle along the way.
—Travel + Leisure Editors, Travel + Leisure, 10 May 2024
Tóibín's portrait of Eilis is sympathetic, both in her youthful dissembling and in her current decisiveness, which borders on intransigence.
—Heller McAlpin, NPR, 7 May 2024
He was known to employ chords that departed from country norms, that toughened up his music’s underlying progressions and bordered on the blues.
—Tom Roland, Billboard, 6 May 2024
Men in their teens and early 20s who paved the way for the ground invasion of Europe by Allied forces through missions that bordered on the suicidal.
—Marco Della Cava, USA TODAY, 25 Jan. 2024
The body of the snake is medium brown, slightly lighter toward the head, with black borders on the individual scales, photos from the study show.
—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 29 Apr. 2024
Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 May 2024
As fighting continued to flare along the Russia-Ukraine border on Saturday, civilians fleeing for their lives stepped out of evacuation vans one by one, some on unsteady legs.
—Jeffrey Gettleman Emile Ducke, New York Times, 11 May 2024
The sillage bordered on overwhelming, particularly on humid days when the scent clung to the wet air.
—Lily Stewart, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 May 2024
Amtrak Cascades Cross over the United States' northern border on Amtrak Cascades, stretching from Vancouver, Canada to Eugene, Oregon, passing through Portland and Seattle along the way.
—Travel + Leisure Editors, Travel + Leisure, 10 May 2024
Tóibín's portrait of Eilis is sympathetic, both in her youthful dissembling and in her current decisiveness, which borders on intransigence.
—Heller McAlpin, NPR, 7 May 2024
He was known to employ chords that departed from country norms, that toughened up his music’s underlying progressions and bordered on the blues.
—Tom Roland, Billboard, 6 May 2024
Men in their teens and early 20s who paved the way for the ground invasion of Europe by Allied forces through missions that bordered on the suicidal.
—Marco Della Cava, USA TODAY, 25 Jan. 2024
The body of the snake is medium brown, slightly lighter toward the head, with black borders on the individual scales, photos from the study show.
—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 29 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'border on.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near border on
Cite this Entry
“Border on.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/border%20on. Accessed 17 May. 2024.
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