on one's toes

prepositional phrase

Attentive, active, busy or alert.

“I keep my students on their toes with pop quizzes.”

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Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. idiomaticAttentive, active, busy or alert.

    I keep my students on their toes with pop quizzes.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
on the alert

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 使某人保持警覺 /使某人保持警觉
  • 使某人保持警覺 /使某人保持警觉 (shǐ mǒurén bǎochí jǐngjué)attentive, active, busy
Finnish varpaillaan
  • varpaillaanattentive, active, busy
German auf Trab
  • auf Trabattentive, active, busy
Polish czujnie, w gotowości
  • czujnieattentive, active, busy
  • w gotowościattentive, active, busy
Russian настороже, начеку
  • настороже (nastorože)attentive, active, busy
  • начеку (načeku)attentive, active, busy
  • в тонусе (v tonuse)attentive, active, busy
Swedish på tårna
  • på tårnaattentive, active, busy
Cite this entry
APA

on one's toes. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20one's%20toes

MLA

“on one's toes.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20one's%20toes. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on one's toes,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20one's%20toes.

Source: on one's toes on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.