tenterhooks
IdiomsExample Sentences
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Is it why markets are rocking, why oil shipments are cut back from the Strait of Hormuz, why the world hangs on tenterhooks of suspense over what happens next?
From Slate ● Mar. 4, 2026
For PSG, the fans will be on tenterhooks until the very end in their bid for a top-eight finish.
From Barron's ● Jan. 20, 2026
As a way to find joy, she said, in a time when news and world events have us all on tenterhooks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025
The 77th Primetime Emmy Awards are mere days away and, as someone who regularly writes about them, I’m trying to locate my tenterhooks, but it’s a bit tough this year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2025
Harry had his wand raised, waiting on tenterhooks to repel a jinx that seemed unlikely ever to come.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
