on the safe side


Avoiding danger, with a margin for error, as in Just to be on the safe side, let's order another hundred chairs. This idiom was first recorded in 1811.

Words Nearby on the safe side

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