surefooted

comparative more surefooted · superlative most surefooted · alternative sure-footed

1. Walking steadily, without stumbling; capable of finding good footing.

   Testers reported the locomotive as very surefooted and said it did not lose traction.

   2024 June 12, Pip Dunn, “Network News: Class 93 tri-mode completes first UK main line tests”, in RAIL, number 1011, page 6

   2 more examples

   The mules of Piedmont are exceeding strong and hardy. […] They are the only carriage that can be used in crossing the mountains, being very sure-footed: and it is observed that in choosing their steps, they always march upon the brink of the precipice.

   1766, Tobias Smollett, Travels through France and Italy, Letter XX

   For many years I didn't learn to walk, because I was carried everywhere—not by my parents, who had grown frail, but by the most sure-footed of the servants.

   1997, Emma Donoghue, “The Tale of the Needle”, in Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins, New York: HarperCollins, page 169

2. Confident and capable.

   Her performance was described as "stunning, surefooted, breathtaking."

   2015, Rosemary Sullivan, Stalin's Daughter, →ISBN, page 320