border on

border on (third-person singular simple present borders on, present participle bordering on, simple past and past participle bordered on)

1. (intransitive) To be almost like some other thing.

   His behaviour borders on insanity.

   • 2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport‎:

     If Moldova harboured even the slightest hopes of pulling off a comeback that would have bordered on miraculous given their lack of quality, they were snuffed out 13 minutes before the break when Oxlade-Chamberlain picked his way through midfield before releasing Defoe for a finish that should have been dealt with more convincingly by Namasco at his near post.