knife-edge

See also: knife edge

English

Alternative forms

• knife edge, knife's edge, knife's-edge

Noun

knife-edge (plural knife-edges)

1. A piece of steel sharpened to an acute edge or angle, and resting on a smooth surface, serving as the axis of motion of a pendulum, scale beam, or other piece required to oscillate with the least possible friction.
2. (figuratively) A precarious balance that could be upset by a very small force in either direction.

   The game was on a knife-edge.

   • 2021 May 5, Drachinifel, 43:40 from the start, in Battle of Samar - What if TF34 was there?‎^[1], archived from the original on 19 August 2022:

     […] meanwhile, Biloxi and Vincennes are both in the process of going down and being abandoned, whilst Miami is right on the knife-edge of being recoverable, with three destroyers clustering around offering pumping and additional damage-control crews to try and keep the light cruiser afloat.

   • 2022 January 12, “Boris Johnson's future on a knife edge after No 10 party apology”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     Boris Johnson's future on a knife edge after No 10 party apology [title]

   • 2023 April 2, Jon Henley, “Finland begins voting in knife-edge election”, in The Guardian‎^[3], →ISSN:

     Polling stations have opened in a knife-edge election in Finland, with polls suggesting the three leading parties are running neck-and-neck and prime minister Sanna Marin may face an uphill battle to stay in power.

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: the edge of a knife.

Derived terms

• knife-edge file
• knife-edge effect

Translations

a precarious balance

• Finnish: veitsenterä (fi)
• French: fil du rasoir m
• German: Messers Schneide f
• Italian: filo del rasoio m
• Polish: ostrze noża n
• Russian: ле́звие ножа́ n (lézvije nožá)
• Turkish: bıçak sırtı (tr)

References

• “knife-edge”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “knife-edge”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)