on thin ice

Idioms  

1. 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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Example Sentences

The magazine cover story was followed 19 months later by the prime-time NBC movie “On Thin Ice,” which went over much of the same territory, with Babilonia and Gardner playing themselves in many of the skating scenes.

From Los Angeles Times

They had both been out on the tundra enough to know when they were on thin ice.

From Literature

If buying wipes out all savings, they’ll be skating on thin ice.

From MarketWatch

But the source of their feud — the bill — remains on thin ice.

From Los Angeles Times

He also played the piano on a session on 8 December, 1980, while working on Yoko Ono's song Walking On Thin Ice.

From BBC

Related Words

• dangerous
• delicate
• dicey
• hazardous
• insecure
• perilous
• problematic
• risky
• rocky
• shaky
• slippery
• ticklish
• touchy
• uncertain
• unhealthy
• unreliable
• unsettled
• unstable
• unsteady