0 a tightly stretched wire or rope fixed high above the ground, across which skilled people walk, especially in order to entertain others: --
One of the acrobats who walked the tightrope at the circus did it blindfolded.
1 a stretched wire or rope fixed above the ground that skilled people walk across, esp. in a circus performance --
2 to consider carefully the decisions or risks that you take in order to deal successfully with a difficult situation: --
Increasing numbers of employers are having to walk a tightrope between immigration laws and laws relating to discrimination.
One third of the workforce is living on a financial tightrope and the abolition of the wage councils would shred it.
I know that he has a difficult tightrope to walk.
A crooked tightrope is outside the experience of most of us.
There is a tightrope in deciding between what is of benefit and which points should be included in the written statement and which should not.
I wonder whether it is as a tightrope walker, a juggler or perhaps even one of the clowns.
We are trying to walk a difficult tightrope between the two.
I suppose that means something like tightrope walking on a rope which is not very tight.
Even cinema audiences have been shown the tightrope which international banks have to walk and the consequences of the system breaking down.
