edgy

Adjective

edgy (comparative edgier, superlative edgiest)

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...
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.
   • 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
   • 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
8. (Internet) Exhibiting behavior that is disconcerting or alarming, sometimes in an effort to impress or to troll others.
   • 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...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)