How to Use tiptoe in a Sentence

tiptoe

1 of 2 noun
  • Marcine lifted the lid, got on his tiptoes and peeked inside.
    — Tim Rohan, New York Times, 22 June 2016
  • This means that in their board meetings, people talk on tiptoe.
    — Ben Brantley, New York Times, 29 Aug. 2019
  • The other girls stalked around the stage, strutting on their tiptoes.
    — Lizzie Feidelson, New York Times, 21 Dec. 2017
  • The ones that want to get the information out kind of tiptoe around.
    — Bruce Henderson, charlotteobserver, 10 Jan. 2018
  • Women are still held to standards that men on their tiptoes could never reach.
    — Mattie Kahn, Glamour, 2 Jan. 2019
  • Keeping the one knee glued into your chest and heel to glute, come up on to the tiptoes of the foot that is still on the floor.
    — Shauna Harrison, SELF, 28 Mar. 2023
  • At one point, Reiner stood on his tiptoes to peer over the lawyers’ heads to look at the audience.
    — Dallas Morning News, 7 Jan. 2026
  • Many of the women’s turns were executed with the foot on half tiptoe rather than fully on the tips of the toes.
    — New York Times, 29 May 2018
  • Patients should not have to guard against hostile providers or navigate the health care system on tiptoe.
    — Amy Stulman, Quartz, 10 Sep. 2019
  • Standing on her tiptoes, López peered out at the rivers of protesters streaming along the avenue.
    — Camila Osorio, The New Yorker, 23 Jan. 2017
  • Rather than struggle to a breakdown or breakthrough, mother and child tiptoe to acceptance.
    — Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 16 May 2023
  • All four Beatles separately tiptoe to the edge, to sneak a peek at the street below.
    — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 29 Nov. 2021
  • Explosively raise up onto your tiptoes, lifting the med ball high and throwing your arms over your shoulders.
    — David Otey, Men's Health, 20 July 2023
  • Our spring had always arrived on tiptoe and sat in the back row, the opposite of the ebullient temperate-zone season.
    — Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2022
  • Austin departs on her tiptoes, probably ferried in a chariot pulled by centaurs.
    — Tamar Adler, Vogue, 17 May 2018
  • To create these monsters, though, the adult child needs to answer the phone, copy her key, surrender her uniforms and tiptoe around parental criticism.
    — Washington Post, 28 June 2021
  • The girls crept into the kitchen; Lulu stood on tiptoe to see over the top of the kitchen counter, surveying what their uncle had brought them from the party.
    — Tessa Hadley, The New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2022
  • Rather than tiptoe around the issue, as presidents have so far, Biden should name and shame these bad actors—and take powerful action to stop them.
    — Lydia Millet, The New Republic, 7 Dec. 2020
  • Some revolutions shatter boundaries with a crash and a bang; others arrive on tiptoe and, with a whisper, change the rules forever.
    — Lynn Yaeger, Vogue, 12 Aug. 2022
  • This annual bloom attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists who come to tiptoe through the tulips, posing for photos that some friends assume required a passport.
    — Conor Knighton, CBS News, 14 May 2023
  • The room was hot and sweaty and smelled like feet, and Red Bull skydiver Jeff Provenzano was struggling to hold a squat on tiptoe.
    — Jacqueline Detwiler, Popular Mechanics, 22 June 2018
  • Within a few years, players from other Bay Area teams, local sports announcers and journalists got on their tiptoes and joined the fun.
    — Bill Van Niekerken, San Francisco Chronicle, 19 Dec. 2017
  • In the front yard there's a black granite monument with a silhouette of Michael Jackson on his tiptoes with an image of the moon in the backdrop.
    — Javonte Anderson, chicagotribune.com, 13 June 2017
  • Pro leagues and collegiate conferences tiptoe through the minefields, somehow finding closure but losing all relevance along the way.
    — Bruce Jenkins, SFChronicle.com, 13 Jan. 2021
  • The ethereally light chiffon cake is filled with guava, topped with guava frosting and drizzled with a guava glaze, the sweet and tartness of which tiptoe gently across the taste buds.
    — Bahar Anooshahr, The Arizona Republic, 2 Aug. 2022
  • Late-night carousers started appearing at three in the morning to ask for a hot baguette, swaying on tiptoe at a high ventilation window by the oven room, a hand outstretched with a euro coin.
    — Bill Buford, The New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2020
  • As Yong reports, another set of human prints—which were much fainter, as if the person was moving on tiptoes—approaches from the opposite direction.
    — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 30 Apr. 2018
  • There are egrets, pelicans, and roseate spoonbills dabbling their clown-shoe beaks in the shallow water for tasty crustaceans — like the tiny crabs scuttling everywhere that keep nervous hikers on tiptoe.
    — Daniel Lee, National Review, 7 Sep. 2020
  • The collective psyche of the Big Orange is already so fragile that embattled coach Butch Jones has to walk on tiptoes.
    — David Caraviello, ajc, 2 Oct. 2017
  • The pop star, 39, posted an image of a child standing on tiptoe alongside another pair of bare feet to her Instagram on Tuesday.
    — Dan Heching, PEOPLE.com, 16 Nov. 2021

tiptoe

2 of 2 verb
  • She tiptoed through the puddle.
  • He tiptoed quietly around the house to avoid waking the children.
  • Over the past year glitter has tiptoed back on the beauty scene.
    — Andrea Lavinthal, Cosmopolitan, 6 Mar. 2009
  • Rose has learned how to tiptoe around his moods and alpha male outbursts.
    — Robert W. Butler, kansascity, 21 Oct. 2017
  • That’s a startling fact that’s hard for anyone to tiptoe around.
    — Kent Somers, azcentral, 11 Nov. 2019
  • The guy was trying to tiptoe the sideline, try to keep picking up yards.
    — Philly.com, 29 Oct. 2017
  • Agholor tiptoed in bounds after the rolling Foles found him on a comeback.
    — Jeff McLane, Philly.com, 13 June 2018
  • Three cats — sometimes tiptoeing over the books on the tables — add some charm.
    — Jane Perlez, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2018
  • That night, the page tiptoed past the castle guards who stood snoring loudly against their spears.
    — Hazlitt, 19 Nov. 2025
  • Bryan Harsin, if that doesn’t work, then just tiptoe out the backdoor when no one is looking.
    — Joseph Goodman | [email protected], al, 14 Mar. 2022
  • Hovland’s chance, for the win, tiptoed along the right side of the hole and settled nine inches away.
    — Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 29 June 2026
  • In the workplace, the default course of action is to tiptoe around the elephant.
    — Jodie Cook, Forbes, 14 Apr. 2022
  • Jimenez says this has given the armadillo a reason to tiptoe north.
    — Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 14 May 2022
  • But now, officials believe the time has come to tiptoe away from such full-fledged support.
    — New York Times, 22 Sep. 2021
  • Yes, the Avs are tiptoeing into salary-cap Hades.
    — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 31 May 2026
  • Careful not to wake the children, Michelle shouldered her pack and tiptoed out the front door.
    — Ted Katauskas, Outside, 23 Sep. 2025
  • De León, 50, is tiptoeing around the land-mine issue of ageism.
    — George Skelton, latimes.com, 19 Oct. 2017
  • Climbers can tackle ladders, cross suspension bridges, and tiptoe their way across a tightrope walk.
    — AFAR Media, 30 Sep. 2025
  • After her first son was born, the new mom tiptoed back into the workplace, even dabbling in radio.
    — Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 6 Mar. 2026
  • In the early morning glow, my husband and I tiptoe out of our lodging down to the lake's edge.
    — Julia Sayers Gokhale, Midwest Living, 7 Jan. 2026
  • Stella tiptoed from the proscenium arch, shielding her eyes from the glare of the footlights.
    — Literary Hub, 13 Mar. 2026
  • At the hospital, McGilvrey stood on her tiptoes to peer through a window and see her son.
    — Jessica Ravitz, CNN, 4 Oct. 2017
  • When spiders tiptoe, lift their abdomen, and release silk, the strands pick up a negative charge.
    — Renae Reints, Fortune, 6 July 2018
  • At the time, the Asian reaction was mostly to tiptoe around the news that came out of Wuhan.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 17 Mar. 2021
  • Sea thrift and marram grass fringe the dunes—while oystercatchers tiptoe along the tideline.
    — Lewis Nunn, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2025
  • Even trying my best to tiptoe on a razor’s edge because of simply talking to the mayor.
    — Susan McFarland, Dallas News, 5 Apr. 2023
  • Neil deGrasse Tyson doesn’t tiptoe around the truth, no matter how grisly.
    — Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 11 Oct. 2022
  • The boys of winter leave warm beds in darkness, tiptoeing out of bedrooms, lugging heavy bags, sticks, and skates.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 25 Nov. 2019
  • Plus, tiptoeing around this trait of hers, and your discomfort with it, is the road to relationship hell.
    — Carolyn Hax, idahostatesman, 16 Feb. 2018
  • Asked by a mother about gender policy in schools, Youngkin did not tiptoe around the question.
    — Emily Brooks, Washington Examiner, 26 Mar. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tiptoe.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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