toe the line

American  

idiom

1. to follow or behave in accordance with specific rules and guidelines.

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toe the line More Idioms  

1. Also, toe the mark. Meet a standard, abide by the rules, as in The new director will make us toe the line, I'm sure, or At daycare Brian has to toe the mark, but at home his mother's quite lenient. This idiom refers to runners in a race placing their toes on the starting line and not moving until the starting signal. Its figurative use dates from the early 1800s.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

toe the line

"They all toe the line, and they keep telling me: 'Boris, you get it, don't you? One step in the wrong direction, and we're finished.'"

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

For the first time, the 40-year-old running legend will toe the line at the New York City Marathon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2025

That said, Aurienne does toe the line between aloof and arrogantly unlikable.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2025

With multiple ongoing crises and an increasingly unstable world, the United States needs journalists who refuse to toe the line more than ever.

From Salon ● Dec. 3, 2024

Malcolm, the one who won’t toe the line.

From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz