To do something that requires extreme care and precision; to navigate a situation that allows very little or no error. Since there's been talk of layoffs, I've been walking a tightrope at work to prove how valuable I am.

What does the phrase walk a tightrope mean?

Take or be on a very precarious course, as in A university press must walk a tightrope to publish scholarly books and still make money, or The general was on a tightrope as to whether he should advance or retreat. This idiom transfers the balancing act performed by tightrope or high-wire acrobats to other concerns. [

How do you use tightrope in a sentence?

1 One of the acrobats who walked the tightrope at the circus did it blindfolded. 2 School administrators walk a tightrope between the demands of the community and the realities of how children really behave. 3 I feel as though I'm walking a tightrope between success and failure.