juggle
/ˈdʒʌɡ(ə)l
/verb [with object]
1Continuously toss into the air and catch (a number of objects) so as to keep at least one in the air while handling the others: Charles juggled five tangerines, his hands a frantic blur [no object]: he can’t juggle...
- When Wee dropped one club out of reach, they continued juggling with the remaining five.
- He added more and more, until he was juggling at least twenty stones without hesitation, perfectly.
- In her youth, Aleila was a wild and rambunctious youngster who could juggle, toss, swallow, and even lie on swords.
1.1Cope with by adroitly balancing (several activities): she works full time, juggling her career with raising children...
- Many had to juggle work and home commitments in order to cope with a situation where children were on different mid-term breaks.
- I've got so many activities and subjects to juggle I don't have time for other commitments.
- What will I need to balance, juggle and organise?
1.2Organize (information or figures) in order to give a particular impression: the average first-time buyer spends many hours juggling figures as they try to budget for their first home defence chiefs juggled the figures on bomb tests...
- I'm going to more or less take their advice, but probably juggle the numbers a bit.
- The main difference is that I knew Mr. Buck wasn't trying to juggle the numbers to arrive at a certain, desired conclusion.
- The debate shouldn't just be how to juggle numbers.
Synonyms
misrepresent, tamper with, falsify, misstate, distort, change round, alter, manipulate, rig, massage, fudge
informal fix, doctor, cook the books
British informal fiddle
noun [in singular]
An act of juggling.Life's a juggle, and you make the choices that suit your life....
- It tries to portray a juggle between characters and the situations and relationships they are involved in.
- That sounds quite a juggle for community members to be able to do that, is that happening?
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'entertain with jesting, tricks, etc.'): back-formation from juggler, or from Old French jogler, from Latin joculari 'to jest', from joculus, diminutive of jocus 'jest'. Current senses date from the late 19th century.