tightrope walk

plural tightrope walks · alternative tightrope-walk

1. An instance of walking on a tightrope.

   Stunts like tightrope walks and barrel plunges were later banned at the falls, with fines of up to $10,000.

   2011 August 5, “Down to the Wire”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Jun 2022

   2 more examples

   In 1859, French acrobat Charles Blondin dazzled Americans with his tightrope walks, the most famous of which were his repeated crossings of Niagara Falls.

   2020 November 20, David S. Reynolds, “Channeling Lincoln’s ideological balancing act will lead Biden to success”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2020

   As for the Logan siblings, Kendall likens his latest showdown with his father to “a tightrope walk on a straight razor ... Five-hundred-foot reputational drop.”

   2023 January 26, Nardine Saad, “New ‘Succession’ trailer teases ‘tightrope walk’ on a razor in for Roy siblings”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 Jan 2023

   Synonyms: rope dance

2. figurativelyA perilous course between alternatives.

   Not since Philippe Petit stepped onto a wire surreptitiously rigged between the towers of the late, lamented World Trade Center in 1974 has there been a tightrope walk as perilous and as public as Ivanka Trump’s.

   2017 November 3, David Von Drehle, “Queen Ivanka’s uncomfortable throne”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2017

   2 more examples

   Mr. Donofrio's strategy is a tightrope walk. He is trying to preserve as much of the traditional mainframe business as possible, while remaking the big machines, replacing their large, power-hungry processors with more efficient computer-on-a-chip microprocessors, which drive work stations and personal computers.

   1993 October 26, Steve Lohr, “Present at the Transition of I.B.M.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 May 2015

   The RSS mouthpiece, meanwhile, termed this as a historical opportunity but cautioned that running the government would be a tightrope walk. “Though running this government will be a tightrope walk, especially for the PDP, if interests of the people of J&K are kept in mind, this will be a historic opportunity,” said the Organiser, adding “keeping away from the pressures of separatist tendencies, focusing completely on development and providing transparency in governance would be key in this regard.”

   2015 March 1, Naseer Ganai, Kumar Vikram, “BJP and PDP join hands to govern J&K... but new Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed mars the day by thanking 'Pakistan, Hurriyat and militants'”, in Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2015

present singular third person tightrope walks · participle present tightrope walking · participle past tightrope walked · past tightrope walked · alternative tightrope-walk

1. alternativeAlternative form of tightrope-walk.

   One boy tried to tightrope walk through the fountain until he was tugged back by a friend.

   1983 November 21, Charles Fishman, “The Pilgrimage”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 Aug 2017

   2 more examples

   John Glass, 23 years old, a waiter, of 716 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, put the commando training he learned as a soldier to use yesterday, according to the police of the Bergen Street Station, who said that he scaled a one-story brick building, tightrope walked along a cornice, forced down a window and entered Riche's Jewelry Shop at 362 Livingston Street.

   1945 September 22, “Good GI Tactics, but—Police Charge Veteran Applied Commando Stunts in Burglary”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2025

   Set in New York in 1974, as Philippe Petit tightrope walks between the newly built Twin Towers, it tells of interlocking lives in the world below, from a radical Irish monk in the Bronx to an Upper East Side housewife.

   2011 June 16, Alison Flood, “Colum McCann wins 2011 Impac Dublin prize”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 Jun 2015