Meanings
- Standing elevated on the tips of one's toes.
Some tinfoil was sticking in a knot-hole just above my eye level, winking at me in the afternoon sun. I stood on tiptoe, hastily looked around once more, reached into the hole, and withdrew two pieces of chewing gum minus their outer wrappers.
1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLCSynonyms: atiptoe, en pointe, tiptoeingly, atiptoe, tiptoeing
- Moving carefully, quietly, warily or stealthily on the tips of one's toes.
We crept out on tiptoe so as not to awake the children.
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseStanding elevated on the tips of one's toes.
Translations
Bulgarian на пръсти
- на пръсти (na prăsti)moving carefully
Catalan de puntetes
- de puntetesmoving carefully
Esperanto piedpinte, piedfingropinte
- piedpinteon the tips of one's toes
- piedfingropintemoving carefully
Finnish varpaisillaan
- varpaisillaanmoving carefully
French sur la pointe des pieds, à pas feutrés
- sur la pointe des piedsmoving carefully
- à pas feutrésmoving carefully
Greek ακροποδητί
- ακροποδητί (akropodití)moving carefully
Hungarian lábujjhegyen
- lábujjhegyenmoving carefully
Irish ar na barraicíní
- ar na barraicínímoving carefully
Polish na palcach, na palcach
- na palcachon the tips of one's toes
- na palcachmoving carefully
Russian на цыпочках
- на цыпочках (na cypočkax)moving carefully
Scottish Gaelic air corra-biod
- air corra-biodmoving carefully
Spanish de puntillas, en puntas de pie
- de puntillasmoving carefully
- en puntas de piemoving carefully
- de puntitasmoving carefully
Tagalog nakatigda, patiyad
- nakatigdamoving carefully
- patiyadmoving carefully
- nakatiyadmoving carefully
Welsh ar flaenau'r traed
- ar flaenau'r traedmoving carefully
Cite this entry
on tiptoe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20tiptoe
“on tiptoe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20tiptoe. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on tiptoe,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20tiptoe.
Source: on tiptoe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.