on the right tack

Idioms  

1. Also, on the right track. Proceeding satisfactorily; also, following the correct line of reasoning. For example, He thinks the housing market is improving, and he's on the right tack there, or That's not exactly so, but you're on the right track. The first term alludes to the direction of a sailboat, the second to the direction of a path. The same is true of the antonyms, on the wrong tack and on the wrong track, indicating an erroneous assumption or course of action. For example, He's on the wrong tack for finding a solution, or The researchers were on the wrong track altogether when they assumed the virus was transmitted by mosquitoes. The expressions using tack date from about 1900; those using track date from about 1880.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

on the right tack

Like two other famed headmasters of New England prep schools, Peabody of Groton and Coit of St. Paul's, Diman thought the English public schools were on the right tack in stressing classics, character and Christianity.

From Time Magazine Archive

He knew that the hand which had set this table and superintended that meal was Flo's, and assured himself he was on the right tack.

From The Call of the Town A Tale of Literary Life by Sir John Alexander Hammerton

Because the police, clever as you say they are, never started on the right tack.

From The Old Man in the Corner by Emmuska Orczy, Baroness Orczy

I have begun four letters to Mrs. D., but have not satisfied myself that I am on the right tack in any of them.

From The Dodd Family Abroad, Vol. I by Charles James Lever

I believed I was on the right tack, and you immediately point out that I’ve got my values wrong.

From The Shadow of the Past by F.E. Mills Young

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