on thin ice

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In a precarious or risky position, as in After failing the midterm, he was on thin ice with his math teacher. This metaphor is often rounded out as skate on thin ice, as in He knew he was skating on thin ice when he took his rent money with him to the racetrack. This idiom, which alludes to the danger that treading on thin ice will cause it to break, was first used figuratively by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay Prudence (1841): “In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed.”

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Words nearby on thin ice

on the whole, on the wing, on the wrong foot, on the wrong side of bed, on the wrong tack, on thin ice, ontic, on time, on tiptoe, onto, onto function

How to use on thin ice in a sentence

Just the hard-on before you shoot unarmed members of the public.
'Babylon' Review: The Dumb Lives of Trigger-Happy Cops|Melissa Leon|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Three on-the-record stories from a family: a mother and her daughters who came from Phoenix.
I Tried to Warn You About Sleazy Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2003|Vicky Ward|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
You just travel light with carry-on luggage, go to cities that you love, and get to hang out with all your friends.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It was a brick wall that we turned into the on-ramp of a highway.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Also, she was tall and thin, too, further adding to the ways she met the physical beauty conventions.
Why Was Bess Myerson the First and Last Jewish Miss America?|Emily Shire|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
This has a warm though a thin soil, which must be highly favorable to the Vine to induce so exclusive a devotion to it.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
He leant against the wall of his refuge, notwithstanding this boast, and licked the ice to moisten his parched lips.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
The left heel followed like lightning, and the right paw also slipped, letting the bear again fall heavily on the ice below.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
A long stretch of smooth ice followed, over which he glided with ever-increasing speed.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
Profiting by this, Benjy quietly moved away round a colossal buttress of the berg, and took refuge in an ice-cave.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne

on thin ice

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How to use on thin ice in a sentence