on the verge of

English

Prepositional phrase

on the verge of

1. Almost at the beginning of.

   He was finally on the verge of success.

   Every time I thought he was on the verge of telling us, he decided to say something else instead.

Coordinate terms

• on the brink of
• on the edge of
• on the point of

 

Related terms

• on the verge

 

Translations

almost at the beginning of an object

• Azerbaijani: astanasında
• German: kurz vor (+dative), am Rande des (+genitive)
• Persian: در آستانه (dar âstâne-ye)
• Russian: на гра́ни (na gráni) (+genitive case)
• Spanish: a punto de (es), al borde de
• Swedish: på vippen (sv)

almost at the beginning of doing sth.

• Azerbaijani: üzrə
• Finnish: vähällä (fi); fifth infinitive
• French: sur le point de (fr)
• German: kurz davor zu (+infinitive), im Begriff sein zu (+infinitive)
• Portuguese: a ponto de (pt), prestes a

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Latin: ^{(please verify)} futurus sum

References

• “on the verge of”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “on the verge of something” (US) / “on the verge of something” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “be on the verge of something” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.