MEANING
To behave with extreme care because you are afraid of upsetting or offending someone.
Use it for
being careful around a sensitive person; avoiding someone’s anger; watching every word to prevent conflict; feeling unable to behave freely around someoneShows careful self-restraint caused by fear of upsetting a sensitive or unpredictable person. Writing functions: Avoiding a sensitive reaction. Semantic categories (by meaning): Social tension; Caution; Fear. Contexts: General conversation; Creative prose.
On the page
Since the argument, everyone had been walking on eggshells around their father.
I do not want the staff to feel they must walk on eggshells whenever I visit.
Word forms
- Base
- walk on eggshells
Usage notes
Inflect walk: walks on eggshells; walked on eggshells; walking on eggshells. Also be on eggshells; British tread on eggshells. Register: neutral. Commonness: common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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