border on

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

Verb[edit]

border on (third-person singular simple present borders on, present participle bordering on, simple past and past participle bordered on)

  1. (transitive) To share a border with.
    The town borders on the forest, so there are often deer on the road.
  2. (transitive, figurative) To be almost like some other thing; to verge on.
    His behaviour borders on insanity.
    • 2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport[1]:
      If Moldova harboured even the slightest hopes of pulling off a comeback that would have bordered on miraculous given their lack of quality, they were snuffed out 13 minutes before the break when Oxlade-Chamberlain picked his way through midfield before releasing Defoe for a finish that should have been dealt with more convincingly by Namasco at his near post.

Translations[edit]