verging on

This is a turn completely without vanity, verging on hysteria for the duration of the two-hour-plus running time, requiring Scott to dive into Skye’s past as an out-of-control addict, as well as convey her crumbling current reality under attack from the horrifying intrusive visions she’s picked up from this smile monster.

Nor did the justices conceal their distaste, verging on mocking contempt, for the lawyer whom these merchants of death handpicked to make their case to SCOTUS.

She says his behaviour was “appalling and degrading, verging on psychological abuse", adding: "I don’t believe I’ve been given a fair trial.”

"If you wanna be in control, you can be," Vidal tells Agatha in an earlier scene, as they're verging on revealing their true witchy selves to each other.

When Martha, a middle-age woman verging on tears, sits down at the bar, Donny asks if he can get her something.