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Synonyms

on pins and needles

Cultural  

  1. In a state of anxiety or tense expectation: “Jackie was on pins and needles waiting to hear about her job application.”

on pins and needles Idioms  

  1. Nervously anxious, as in He was on pins and needles, waiting for the test results. The graphic expression pins and needles for the tingling sensation experienced in recovering from numbness was transferred to a feeling of marked mental uneasiness about 1800.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“We waited on pins and needles for 12 days,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2024

"We're on pins and needles to see if Powell will say anything that suggests they will taper the size of rate increases going forward," Hogan said, referring to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

From Reuters • Oct. 31, 2022

“We were on pins and needles wondering, OK, if this virus gets into the mountain gorillas, what’s it going to do?”

From New York Times • Feb. 21, 2022

“I’m living on pins and needles because I can’t get answers from anybody,” he said.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 4, 2021

He’s been on pins and needles lately, hoping the results of the experiment could land in Nature, one of the leading scientific journals in the world.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.