Note: The spelling 'cutting-edge' is used for meaning 3.
1.
If you are at the ~ of a particular field of activity, you are involved in its most important or most exciting developments.
This shipyard is at the ~ of world shipbuilding technology.
= forefront
N-SING: usu at/on the N of n
2.
If someone or something gives you a ~, they give you an advantage over your competitors.
If Pearce had been fit, we would have won. We missed the ~ he would have given us.
N-SING
3.
Cutting-edge techniques or equipment are the most advanced that there are in a particular field.
What we are planning is cutting-edge technology never seen in Australia before...
ADJ: usu ADJ n