Tightrope
noun
A rope that is stretched above ground and, generally, someone will walk on it to entertain people.
The acrobat walked on the tightrope at the circus, making the crowd gasp in excitement.
Often appears as...
- walk a tightrope
- tightrope walker
noun
A difficult situation where care must be taken in order to avoid failure or disaster.
Managing a team with such various personalities feels like walking on a tightrope.
Often appears as...
- walk a tightrope
- tightrope situation
Usage tips
Disapproving
Idiomatic
noun
A rope that is stretched above ground and, generally, someone will walk on it to entertain people.
The acrobat walked on the tightrope at the circus, making the crowd gasp in excitement.
Often appears as...
- walk a tightrope
- tightrope walker
noun
A difficult situation where care must be taken in order to avoid failure or disaster.
Managing a team with such various personalities feels like walking on a tightrope.
Often appears as...
- walk a tightrope
- tightrope situation
Usage tips
Disapproving
Idiomatic
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Entertainment Context
Used to describe a circus or acrobatic performance, often showcasing skill and balance.
The festival's highlight was a tightrope act above the crowd.
Pro Tip 2/3Metaphorical Balance
Sometimes used metaphorically to represent maintaining balance in challenging situations.
He walked a diplomatic tightrope during the negotiations.
Pro Tip 3/3Requires Skill
Implies a high level of skill, careful practice, and concentration, much like an acrobat.
Completing the project on time was like walking a tightrope.
Pro Tip 1/3Entertainment Context
Used to describe a circus or acrobatic performance, often showcasing skill and balance.
The festival's highlight was a tightrope act above the crowd.
Pro Tip 2/3Metaphorical Balance
Sometimes used metaphorically to represent maintaining balance in challenging situations.
He walked a diplomatic tightrope during the negotiations.
Pro Tip 3/3Requires Skill
Implies a high level of skill, careful practice, and concentration, much like an acrobat.
Completing the project on time was like walking a tightrope.
Pro Tip 1/3Entertainment Context
Used to describe a circus or acrobatic performance, often showcasing skill and balance.
The festival's highlight was a tightrope act above the crowd.
Pro Tip 2/3Metaphorical Balance
Sometimes used metaphorically to represent maintaining balance in challenging situations.
He walked a diplomatic tightrope during the negotiations.
Pro Tip 3/3Requires Skill
Implies a high level of skill, careful practice, and concentration, much like an acrobat.
Completing the project on time was like walking a tightrope.
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Video examples
How I'm Working for...
How do we respect someone's religious beliefs while still holding them accountable for the harm or damage that those beliefs may cause others? It's a tough question. I still don't have a perfect answer. My parents and I have been walking on this tightrope for the last decade. They're intelligent people. They're lovely people.
Video examples
"To This Day" ... for...
from clowns to carnies, all of these miles ahead of who we were. We were freaks -- lobster-claw boys and bearded ladies, oddities juggling depression and loneliness, playing solitaire, spin the bottle, trying to kiss the wounded parts of ourselves and heal, but at night, while the others slept, we kept walking the tightrope.
Video examples
Researching How to Live...
know the biology and kind of what makes them tick we know the numbers of coyotes that we have to remove in order to get rid of them for instance we know that we're not going to be able to get there what wildlife managers have to do is walk that tightrope between the two the spreader paradox is this issue where we
Video examples
Watch the Total Solar...
the other side of the solar there's our rock climbers you can see two of them on the rocks and then you can see one on the tightrope he enjoyed the solar eclipse from the tightrope and can you see the crowd underneath cheering him on okay we're talking about having a once-in-a-lifetime experience what about
Video examples
Eduardo Briceño: How to...
but doing deliberate practice. And fourth, we must be in a low-stakes situation, because if mistakes are to be expected, then the consequence of making them must not be catastrophic, or even very significant. A tightrope walker doesn't practice new tricks without a net underneath,
Video examples
Mind-blowing stage...
And over many months, meeting with the band and their creative teams, this is the sketch that kept recurring, this line, this street, the street that connects the band's past with their present, the tightrope that they walk as activists and artists, a walk through cinema
Video examples
The journey across the...
like this I get a pair of pliers and some code anger and I gather them together in some kind of ropey bath so I just created the widest tightrope in the world what did I need what I needed the wider shoes in the world so I found some
Video examples
Safari Live - Day 333 PIPE...
tightrope walker because it's got a typical wavy flight in the air it's sort of dips from side to side slightly it very seldom flaps because they rely
Video examples
DIY - The Risk Game PIPE...
tightrope walkers are some of the greatest risk takers in the world balance high above the ground one wrong
Video examples
50-pound Face Tumor PIPE...
Hansol comes it's like walking a tightrope you never know where you might
Video examples
How I'm Working for...
How do we respect someone's religious beliefs while still holding them accountable for the harm or damage that those beliefs may cause others? It's a tough question. I still don't have a perfect answer. My parents and I have been walking on this tightrope for the last decade. They're intelligent people. They're lovely people.
Video examples
"To This Day" ... for...
from clowns to carnies, all of these miles ahead of who we were. We were freaks -- lobster-claw boys and bearded ladies, oddities juggling depression and loneliness, playing solitaire, spin the bottle, trying to kiss the wounded parts of ourselves and heal, but at night, while the others slept, we kept walking the tightrope.
Video examples
Researching How to Live...
know the biology and kind of what makes them tick we know the numbers of coyotes that we have to remove in order to get rid of them for instance we know that we're not going to be able to get there what wildlife managers have to do is walk that tightrope between the two the spreader paradox is this issue where we
Video examples
Watch the Total Solar...
the other side of the solar there's our rock climbers you can see two of them on the rocks and then you can see one on the tightrope he enjoyed the solar eclipse from the tightrope and can you see the crowd underneath cheering him on okay we're talking about having a once-in-a-lifetime experience what about
Video examples
Eduardo Briceño: How to...
but doing deliberate practice. And fourth, we must be in a low-stakes situation, because if mistakes are to be expected, then the consequence of making them must not be catastrophic, or even very significant. A tightrope walker doesn't practice new tricks without a net underneath,
Video examples
Mind-blowing stage...
And over many months, meeting with the band and their creative teams, this is the sketch that kept recurring, this line, this street, the street that connects the band's past with their present, the tightrope that they walk as activists and artists, a walk through cinema
Video examples
The journey across the...
like this I get a pair of pliers and some code anger and I gather them together in some kind of ropey bath so I just created the widest tightrope in the world what did I need what I needed the wider shoes in the world so I found some
Video examples
Safari Live - Day 333 PIPE...
tightrope walker because it's got a typical wavy flight in the air it's sort of dips from side to side slightly it very seldom flaps because they rely
Video examples
DIY - The Risk Game PIPE...
tightrope walkers are some of the greatest risk takers in the world balance high above the ground one wrong
Video examples
50-pound Face Tumor PIPE...
Hansol comes it's like walking a tightrope you never know where you might
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Jeff Lemire
Canadian Artist
Art should walk a tightrope. That's what art should be. Art should be dangerous. You can't be scared to say something with it. People love to talk about how comics are real art and real literature, so why not use these characters to talk about real things, even if it is dangerous?
Quote examples
Henri Nouwen
Dutch Clergyman
Living in a community with very wounded people, I came to see that I had lived most of my life as a tightrope artist trying to walk on a high, thin cable from one tower to the other, always waiting for the applause when I had not fallen off and broken my leg.
Quote examples
James Marsden
American Actor
If expectations are low, you can only impress people. But if expectations are there for you to be the leading guy, and you've been paid X amount of money, you're on a tightrope, and all of a sudden, you're looking down.
Quote examples
Jackie Robinson
American Baseball Player
Blacks have had to learn to protect themselves by being cynical but not cynical enough to slam the door on potential opportunities. We go through life walking a tightrope to prevent too much disillusionment.
Quote examples
Kabir Bedi
Indian Actor
Acting is the most insecure profession in the world - you're insecure if you're successful, you're insecure if you're not. A tightrope walk without a net. It's a miracle I'm still standing!
Quote examples
Henri Matisse
French Artist
In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature. You must be able to walk firmly on the ground before you start walking on a tightrope.
Quote examples
Brene Brown
American Author
Men walk this tightrope where any sign of weakness illicits shame, and so they're afraid to make themselves vulnerable for fear of looking weak.
Quote examples
William Arthur Ward
American Writer
A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life.
Quote examples
Edith Wharton
American Author
Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.
Quote examples
Don McCullin
British Photographer
I treat my life as though I am on a tightrope.
Quote examples
Jeff Lemire
Canadian Artist
Art should walk a tightrope. That's what art should be. Art should be dangerous. You can't be scared to say something with it. People love to talk about how comics are real art and real literature, so why not use these characters to talk about real things, even if it is dangerous?
Quote examples
Henri Nouwen
Dutch Clergyman
Living in a community with very wounded people, I came to see that I had lived most of my life as a tightrope artist trying to walk on a high, thin cable from one tower to the other, always waiting for the applause when I had not fallen off and broken my leg.
Quote examples
James Marsden
American Actor
If expectations are low, you can only impress people. But if expectations are there for you to be the leading guy, and you've been paid X amount of money, you're on a tightrope, and all of a sudden, you're looking down.
Quote examples
Jackie Robinson
American Baseball Player
Blacks have had to learn to protect themselves by being cynical but not cynical enough to slam the door on potential opportunities. We go through life walking a tightrope to prevent too much disillusionment.
Quote examples
Kabir Bedi
Indian Actor
Acting is the most insecure profession in the world - you're insecure if you're successful, you're insecure if you're not. A tightrope walk without a net. It's a miracle I'm still standing!
Quote examples
Henri Matisse
French Artist
In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature. You must be able to walk firmly on the ground before you start walking on a tightrope.
Quote examples
Brene Brown
American Author
Men walk this tightrope where any sign of weakness illicits shame, and so they're afraid to make themselves vulnerable for fear of looking weak.
Quote examples
William Arthur Ward
American Writer
A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life.
Quote examples
Edith Wharton
American Author
Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.
Quote examples
Don McCullin
British Photographer
I treat my life as though I am on a tightrope.
Example 1 of 10
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