Dictionary

edgy en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈed͡ʒi/ (Australia, New-Zealand)
• audio Queensland
• /ˈɛd͡ʒi/ (Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From edge + -y. Compare German eckig (“angular, edgy”).

Meanings

1. Nervous, apprehensive.
2. Creatively challenging; cutting edge; leading edge.
3. (figuratively) On the edge between acceptable and offensive; pushing the boundaries of good taste; risqué.
   • “A few college kids make edgy jokes in a group chat and conservatives are tripping over themselves to denounce and disavow and call for firings and resignations,” Matt Walsh, a right-wing commentator, posted on X. 2025 October 15, David W. Chen, Megan Mineiro, quoting Matt Walsh, “Republicans Face Fallout From Racist and Homophobic Texts”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
4. (dated) Irritable.
   • an edgy temper
5. Having some of the forms, such as drapery or the like, too sharply defined.
   • A sculptor's ideas must, I should guess, be somewhat rigid and inflexible, like the materials in which he works. Besides, Nollekens's style was comparatively hard and edgy. 1821–1822, William Hazlitt, “(please specify the essay name)”, in Table-Talk; or, Original Essays, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Warren; Henry Colburn and Co.:
6. Sharp; having prominent edges.
   • Shasta tried to get out of the way and to make Bree go back. But […] a woman with a very edgy basket in her hands, who was just behind Shasta, pushed the basket hard against his shoulders, and said, "Now then! Who are you shoving!" 1954, C. S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy:
7. (slang) Cool by virtue of being tough, dark, or badass.
   • From the author of Bleed Like Me, which Booklist called “edgy, dark, and turbulent with passion” comes another compelling and gritty novel about addiction and forbidden romance—starring a fearless, unforgettable heroine. 2016, C. Desir, Other Broken Things, →ISBN:
   • My bicep, my poor little cluster of nearly muscle is being pressed into a funsize turkey nugget and I’m starting to perhaps regret my outing with this bunch of Brentford fans who have that slightly edgier reputation. 2009, Spencer Austin, “The Macc Daddy”, in I Am the Gloryhunter: One Man’s Quest for the Ultimate Football Season, Know The Score, →ISBN, pages 185–186:
   • This is where the edgiest fashion happens (and where the major brands send their researchers and cool-hunters to sniff out the coming looks). 2015 June 23, Jess Cartner-Morley, The Guardian:
   • The full bar adds to the edgy attitude of the place, which stays open until midnight on weekends. 2015, Fodor's Travel Guides, Fodor's The Carolinas & Georgia, →ISBN:
   • His cool, somewhat edgy look is directed back at the photographer, as if she was too close, perhaps had seen too much. 2013, Leonard Bell, Kapka Kassabova, Marti Friedlander, →ISBN:
   • The country part came in with their piquant nativist themes, an edgy, don't-fuck-with-me pose and attitude, a gnawing male chauvinism undercut by sentimentality for women, kin, and the Lord. 2015, Mark Ribowsky, Whiskey Bottles and Brand-New Cars, →ISBN:
   • This former aspiring rapper-turned author brings out the heartfelt emotion in his writing from an edgy street-life perspective that leaves the reader begging for more. 2014, S. K. Collins, Crooked G's, →ISBN, page 265:
8. (Internet) Exhibiting behavior that is disconcerting or alarming, sometimes in an effort to impress or to troll others.
   • At first, trolling was simply an apolitical form of amusement — web posting as performance art. The image board 4chan soon became its mecca. Over time, however, the trolls began moving from joking about racism to advocating it in their desire to become ever more edgy. Andrew Anglin, creator of the neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer and a longtime troll before that, described the transformation process in a lengthy post on his blog: “The sentiments behind the jokes slowly became serious, as people realized they were based on fact," he wrote. "Non-ironic Nazism [began] masquerading as ironic Nazism.” 2017, Matthew Sheffield (27 April 2017), Trolling for a race war: neo-Nazis are trying to bait leftist “antifa” activists into violence—and radicalize white people, Salon (retrieved 2017-11-09; archived from the original 2017-09-04)
   • These trolls think they’re being satirical and brave because they’re putting these dangerous, edgy so-called jokes on there, but in reality it’s cowardly. It’s the antithesis of bravery because they rarely identify themselves or give away personal information. That’s not courage. 2012, David Brown (18 March 2012), Richard Bacon on the online abuse he’s suffered for two years, Radio Times (retrieved 2017-11-09; archived from the original 2015-03-21)
   • A large portion of the Internet audience enjoys edgy content and the behavior of the more extreme users; it wants to see the bad with the good, so it becomes harder to get rid of the ugly. But to attract more mainstream audiences and bring in the big-budget advertisers, you must hide or remove the ugly. 2015, Ellen Pao (16 July 2015), Former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao: The trolls are winning the battle for the Internet, Washington Post (retrieved 2017-11-09; archived from the original 2017-10-20)
   • Dank meme communities love making fun of fidget spinners, especially because spinners are associated with autistic kids, a favorite target for mockery in “edgy” online spaces like 4chan and Reddit. There, spinners are considered emblematic of everything that’s wrong with society, and they’re used as a metaphor for anything unlikeable. 2017, Jay Hathaway (25 May 2017), Are fidget spinners white supremacist now?, Daily Dot (retrieved 2017-11-09; archived from the original 2017-09-29)

Forms

Deriveds

edgily · edginess · unedgy

Relateds

edgelord · over the edge · edgesphere · on edge · don't cut yourself on that edge

Translations (36)

cs provokující (on the edge between acceptable and offensive) · hu ideges (nervous, apprehensive) · bg изнервен (nervous, apprehensive) · hu hegyes (sharp; having prominent edges) · eo provoka (on the edge between acceptable and offensive) · fi hermostunut (nervous, apprehensive) · ru взволно́ванный (nervous, apprehensive) · es efectista (on the edge between acceptable and offensive) · fr à cran (nervous, apprehensive) · mi pūohorere (nervous, apprehensive) · hu éles vonalú/rajzú/rajzolatú (art: having some of the forms, such as drapery or the like, too sharply defined) · mi āmaimai (nervous, apprehensive) · hu éles (sharp; having prominent edges) · fr nerveux (nervous, apprehensive) · fi rajoja koetteleva (on the edge between acceptable and offensive) · es hacerse el interesante (on the edge between acceptable and offensive) · eo nervoza (nervous, apprehensive) · cs nervózní (nervous, apprehensive) · es atrevido (on the edge between acceptable and offensive) · bg раздразнителен (nervous, apprehensive) · de angespannt (nervous, apprehensive) · es amarillista (on the edge between acceptable and offensive) · es provocador (on the edge between acceptable and offensive) · ru на гра́ни фо́ла (on the edge between acceptable and offensive) · hu ingerült (nervous, apprehensive) · de grenzwertig (on the edge between acceptable and offensive) · hu feszült (nervous, apprehensive) · fr limite (on the edge between acceptable and offensive) · gl nervioso (nervous, apprehensive) · hu provokatív (on the edge between acceptable and offensive) · hu merész (on the edge between acceptable and offensive) · ru вызыва́ющий (on the edge between acceptable and offensive) · fr anxieux (nervous, apprehensive) · de nervös (nervous, apprehensive) · hu kiálló élű (sharp; having prominent edges) · ru не́рвный (nervous, apprehensive)