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# tiptoe

«tiptoe» in Mova's school dictionary: **To walk quietly and carefully on the front parts of your…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (tiptoe, tiptoes, tiptoed, tiptoeing); noun (on tiptoe, on tiptoes); adverb (on tiptoe)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To walk quietly and carefully on the front parts of your feet with your heels off the ground. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tiptoe/#m1)

2) On tiptoe(s): standing or walking on your toes, sometimes to reach higher or to be quiet. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tiptoe/#m2)

3) Tiptoe around: to avoid talking about something difficult. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tiptoe/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life you tiptoe so as not to wake a baby or to sneak up quietly. In stories, characters tiptoe to show secrecy or fear. In PE and dance, tiptoe walking builds balance. In safety: stretching on tiptoe on a wobbly chair to reach a high shelf is dangerous — ask for help or use a proper step. Phrases: on tiptoe, tiptoe past, tiptoe around, stand on tiptoes.

### examples

- We tiptoed past the sleeping baby. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tiptoe/#x1)
- She stood on tiptoe to see over the fence. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tiptoe/#x2)
- The burglar tiptoed down the hall. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tiptoe/#x3)
- Tiptoe so you don't wake Grandma. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tiptoe/#x4)
- Don't stand on tiptoe on a wobbly stool. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tiptoe/#x5)
- They tiptoed around the subject of the broken vase. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tiptoe/#x6)
- In ballet, dancers dance on the tips of their toes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tiptoe/#x7)
- Then the children crept on tiptoe to a crack in the rocks and got in. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tiptoe/#x8)

### note

Past: tiptoed; -ing: tiptoeing (keep the «e»). One word: tiptoe. «On tiptoe» and «on tiptoes» are both used.

### In the corpora

- [In Toronto, Zelda tiptoes when Dad gets home from work and checks his face first, to see what mood he's in.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/494-shouty-parents-and-bad-days/19/)
- [She can talk to her mum or a teacher, because no child should have to tiptoe every day.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/494-shouty-parents-and-bad-days/21/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «tiptoe» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tiptoe/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.