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border on

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Legal, Encyclopedia 0.03 sec.
border (up)on something 
1. Lit. [for something] to touch upon a boundary. (Upon is more formal and less commonly used than on.) Our property borders on the lakeshore. The farm borders upon the railroad tracks.
2. Fig. [for some activity or idea] to be very similar to something else. (Not usually physical objects. Upon is formal and less commonly used than on.) This notion of yours borders upon mutiny! That plan borders on insanity.

border on something
to be similar in quality or character I thought the author's criticism bordered on rudeness.
Usage notes: usually used about negative qualities


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The hollyhocks and lilies (now flourishing) are still under the south windows in a narrow border on the top of a grass slope, at the foot of which I have sown two long borders of sweetpeas facing the rose beds, so that my roses may have something almost as sweet as themselves to look at until the autumn, when everything is to make place for more tea-roses.
 
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