Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Nervous or irritable.
  • adjective Having a sharp or biting edge.
  • adjective Daring, provocative, or trend-setting.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Showing an edge; sharply defined; angular.
  • Keen-tempered; irritable: as, an edgy temper.
  • Having contours which are too sharply defined: said of a picture.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Easily irritated; sharp.
  • adjective (Fine Arts) Having some of the forms, such as drapery or the like, too sharply defined.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective nervous, apprehensive
  • adjective : creatively challenging; cutting edge; leading edge
  • adjective : on the edge between acceptable and offensive; pushing the boundaries of good taste; dodgy
  • adjective dated irritable
  • adjective art Having some of the forms, such as drapery or the like, too sharply defined.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective being in a tense state

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

edge +‎ -y

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word edgy.

Examples

  • As a twenty-three-year-old woman living in New York City, I will assign myself the role of ambassador of my generation and attempt to respond to your article discussing the word edgy.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • As a twenty-three-year-old woman living in New York City, I will assign myself the role of ambassador of my generation and attempt to respond to your article discussing the word edgy.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • As a twenty-three-year-old woman living in New York City, I will assign myself the role of ambassador of my generation and attempt to respond to your article discussing the word edgy.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • As a twenty-three-year-old woman living in New York City, I will assign myself the role of ambassador of my generation and attempt to respond to your article discussing the word edgy.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • He said it rather crossly, for his nerves were what he called edgy, and the girl still irritated him.

    The Lookout Man B. M. Bower 1905

  • There is enough out there that is what they call edgy and quite hard-hitting and modern and fashionable.

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph Nick Collins 2012

  • Anyway, today’s terminology of the word edgy has become a bit extreme.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • Anyway, today’s terminology of the word edgy has become a bit extreme.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • Anyway, today’s terminology of the word edgy has become a bit extreme.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • Anyway, today’s terminology of the word edgy has become a bit extreme.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.