tightrope

be walking a tightrope

To be doing something very carefully. Since there's been talk of layoffs, I've been walking a tightrope at work to prove how valuable I am. Most of my job involves getting the boss to do the things I want while thinking they're entirely his idea. So I'm usually walking on a tightrope, pretty much. Even though I've been walking on a tightrope all week, doing all of my chores and being super polite, Mom and Dad still won't let me stay out late on Friday night!

See also: tightrope, walking

walk a tightrope

To do something that requires extreme care and precision; to navigate a situation that allows very little or no error. Since there's been talk of layoffs, I've been walking a tightrope at work to prove how valuable I am.

See also: tightrope, walk

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

walk a tightrope

Fig. to be in a situation where one must be very cautious. I've been walking a tightrope all day. I need to relax. Our business is about to fail. We've been walking a tightrope for three months.

See also: tightrope, walk

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

walk a tightrope

Also, be on a tightrope. Take or be on a very precarious course, as in A university press must walk a tightrope to publish scholarly books and still make money , or The general was on a tightrope as to whether he should advance or retreat. This idiom transfers the balancing act performed by tightrope or high-wire acrobats to other concerns. [First half of 1900s]

See also: tightrope, walk

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

be walking a tightrope

COMMON If someone is walking a tightrope, they are in a difficult situation where a small mistake could cause failure, especially because they are trying to deal with two opposing things or groups of people. He is walking a tightrope between the young activists and the more traditional members within the democracy movement. He knows he is walking a tightrope on just how big his company can grow before the public turns against it. Note: You can call someone's attempt to deal with this type of situation a tightrope walk. The strategy is something of a tightrope walk.

See also: tightrope, walking

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

tread/walk a ˈtightrope

,

be on a ˈtightrope

be in a situation where you must act very carefully: I’m walking a tightrope at the moment; one more mistake and I might lose my job.

A tightrope is a rope high up in the air that an acrobat walks along at a circus.

See also: tightrope, tread, walk

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017