A tightrope is a tightly stretched piece of rope on which someone balances and performs tricks in a circus.
2. countable noun [usually singular]
You can use tightrope in expressions such as walk a tightrope and live on a tightrope to indicate that someone is in a difficult situation and has to be very careful about what they say or do.
They're walking a tightrope between being overprotective and not caring enough.
For the past few days Corinne has been living on an emotional tightrope.
tightrope in British English
(ˈtaɪtˌrəʊp)
noun
1.
a rope or cable stretched taut above the ground on which acrobats walk or perform balancing feats
2. walk a tightrope
tightrope in American English
(ˈtaɪtˌroʊp)
noun
a tightly stretched rope or cable on which aerialists walk or do balancing acts
More idioms containing
tightrope
walk a tightrope
Examples of 'tightrope' in a sentence
tightrope
Also guilty of reckless challenge in first half and had to walk the tightrope.
The Sun (2016)
For a player who walks a disciplinary tightrope, a fifth booking around the festive fixtures is par for the course.
The Sun (2016)
Modern men and women walk a tightrope, with tiny changes being enough to tip the balance one way or the other.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
The party system therefore treads a tightrope.
Roper, Jon Democracy and its Critics - Anglo-American democratic thought in the nineteenth century (1989)
It must tread a tightrope between being too punitive or too lenient.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
He performed both feats without safety nets or harnesses and set new records for tightrope walking.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
We are walking a tightrope on that issue.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
He walks the tightrope between drama and farce.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
And you have to walk that tightrope while making magnanimous noises to your opponent.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Serbia are walking a disciplinary tightrope as six of their regulars are on one booking.
The Sun (2010)
And he will now be walking another disciplinary tightrope over the coming six weeks.
The Sun (2015)
My afternoon begins with tightrope walking.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Next up for me it was tightrope walking - how hard could that be?
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
It's an impossible tightrope to walk.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Instead, the show walked a tightrope between sentiment and sentimentality.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Your top cop needs to be a cheerleader, tightrope walker.
The Sun (2008)
WHY did the lion eat the tightrope walker?
The Sun (2010)
It must often be a very difficult tightrope to tread, since for very many patients medication is a definite lifeline.
Carpenter, Anne & Johnson, Geoffrey Why am I Afraid to Grieve (1994)
It's like walking a tightrope.
Bulgin, Sally Acrylics Masterclass (1994)
In a sense they have walked a policy tightrope, aiming to do something about economic hardship without demanding "unrealistic" political changes.
Yearley, Steven Science, Technology, and Social Change (1988)
Sir, Britain is walking an economic tightrope.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Retailers, having cut back dramatically on inventories over the past year, are now walking a tightrope.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Bank bosses ARE walking a tightrope.
The Sun (2009)
Silver (aged six) asked why she was afraid of heights if she used to be a tightrope walker.
The Times Literary Supplement (2010)
He asked the famous tightrope walker, he tells her, how he had the nerve to perform his acrobatic feats.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
It's a tricky enough business to perform this rustic comedy without the full paraphernalia of dancers, village musicians and tightrope walkers.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
I feel I am walking a tightrope all the time.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
In other languages
tightrope
British English: tightrope NOUN
A tightrope is a tightly stretched piece of rope on which someone balances and performs tricks in a circus.
American English: tightrope
Brazilian Portuguese: corda bamba
Chinese: 钢索
European Spanish: cuerda floja
French: corde raideN
German: Seil
Italian: cordada acrobata
Japanese: 綱渡りの綱
Korean: >밧줄서커스에서 곡예사가 타는
European Portuguese: corda bamba
Latin American Spanish: cuerda floja
All related terms of 'tightrope'
tightrope walker
an acrobat who performs on a tightrope
walk a tightrope
to be in a difficult situation where you must be very careful about what you do or say , because you are trying to satisfy opposing groups