tiptoe
Americannoun
-
tiptoes
plural
verb (used without object)
-
tiptoes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tiptoed,
past participle, past
-
tiptoeing
present participle
adjective
-
characterized by standing or walking on tiptoe.
-
straining upward.
-
eagerly expectant.
-
cautious; stealthy.
adverb
idioms
verb
-
to walk with the heels off the ground and the weight supported by the ball of the foot and the toes
-
to walk silently or stealthily
noun
adverb
adjective
-
walking or standing on tiptoe
-
stealthy or silent
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tiptoesimple
-
tiptoessimple
-
have tiptoedperfect
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has tiptoedperfect
-
am tiptoeingprogressive
-
are tiptoeingprogressive
-
is tiptoeingprogressive
-
have been tiptoeingperfect progressive
-
has been tiptoeingperfect progressive
Past
-
tiptoedsimple
-
had tiptoedperfect
-
was tiptoeingprogressive
-
were tiptoeingprogressive
-
had been tiptoeingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tiptoe
1350–1400; Middle English tiptoon (plural noun). See tip 1, toe
Explanation
To tiptoe is to walk with your weight on your toes, moving quietly. If you're late to your yoga class and everyone's lying still with their eyes closed, you may want to tiptoe to your mat. You can also use tiptoe as a noun or an adjective: "She had to stand on her tiptoes to reach the cabinet where the cookies are kept." Figuratively, you tiptoe when you avoid a certain topic: "There's no need to tiptoe around the subject of money—I don't mind talking about it." The variation tippy toes dates from the early 1800s.
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.
See Examples For:
“The art is to tiptoe up to the edge of what’s possible.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
Put all together, investors may remain understandably uneasy about the topic, even if they start to tiptoe back into oversold areas.
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
We tiptoe around finances because we’ve been programmed by society to link our personal value to our financial status.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 7, 2026
Brooks and Gordon carefully tiptoe the line between stereotype and commentary, creating a tension for the audience that holds us until the film resolutely jumps toward the latter side.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2025
I slide out of bed, tiptoe across the room, and just barely crack open the door to have a look.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
That mordant humor, however enjoyable, tiptoes around the unanswerable question of how, or even whether, we can tell the difference between cosplay and the real thing.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2026
On that overcast morning with the F-150, Hummel stood on his tiptoes and reached both arms overhead into the tight crevices under the pickup.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 7, 2026
Behind them, a slim figure reaches up on tiptoes, but the 1-month pad is still out of her reach.
From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2025
As the hearing ended, a group of fans huddled by the courtroom doors on their tiptoes hoping to catch sight of him and show support for the rapper.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2024
I look back at the door and stand on tiptoes, trying to peek in.
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
John Wollman tiptoed carefully around the issue of the Texas subpoena at the heart of the suit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
Goddard has tiptoed into using AI to draft opinions, with her oversight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 6, 2026
Eyal Ben-Ari tugged at the heavy assault rifle hanging over his shoulder as he tiptoed out of his pink house at sunrise, hoping not to wake his wife or six children.
From New York Times ● May 23, 2024
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tiptoed less than 0.1% lower to 38,892.80, while the Nasdaq composite inched 5 points higher to 16,253.96.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 9, 2024
I tiptoed over and sat beside him, stroking his fur and whispering his name.
From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor
Any hope Infantino might have had of tiptoeing away from the scene of his World Cup private-investment wreckage having sustained only minor damage to his reputation has been obliterated.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
During my stay on the islands, I regularly found myself tiptoeing around sea lions lounging beside hotel entrances or ferry docks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
And so looking back, you can see how I was tiptoeing around and it took a little moment before they really let me just let what my instincts were telling me to do, fly.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
Investors tiptoeing back into Chinese stocks may want to consider companies that would benefit both from the rise of AI and a potential effort by Beijing to boost consumption.
From Barron's ● Dec. 27, 2025
Two hours after “Taps,” I was up and tiptoeing through the hallways until I hit the bloodred door that took me into the night.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
