knife-edged

[ nahyf-ejd ]

adjective

1. having a thin, sharp edge.

Word History and Origins

Origin of knife-edged¹

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

“I’m so sorry, so sorry,” Verlaine sings, offering a desperate apology amid a crossfire of guitars and drums — knife-edged single notes, barbed lines, implacable offbeats — that don’t promise any forgiveness.

From New York Times

If I thought there would be a knife-edged clarity to the return to the theater, as though I could walk in the door of my childhood home and pick up right where I left off, the warm mug still on the table where I left it — I was mistaken.

From New York Times

A Liberal candidate also has a knife-edged lead over the Conservative incumbent in an Edmonton riding, though that race is still too close too call.

From BBC

They are anvil-heavy and knife-edged, and as they teeter on that windowsill, you face two, equally plausible, life-warping paths: murdering someone below or ending your shins forever.

From New York Times

Knife-edged landscapes shaped by those implacable forces are prominent in Anthes’s pictures, but his fundamental subject is light.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• acute
• pointed
• razor-sharp
• sharpened
• stinging