Word.ws English Dictionary

not touch with a ten-foot pole

not touch with a ten-foot pole verb: to avoid something at all costs; to refuse to associate with something; signifies a strong aversion.

Verb

not touch with a ten-foot pole

  1. (idiomatic) To avoid something at all costs; to refuse to associate with something; signifies a strong aversion.
    • 1873. Ambrose Bierce (under the pseudonym Dod Grile), The Fiend's Delight
      In conclusion, his respect for letter-writing ladies is so great that he would not touch one of them with a ten-foot pole.
    • ... the stock's gone up from nothin' out o' sight. You couldn't tech that stock with a ten-foot pole!1912, Ambrose Bierce, “A Providential Intimation”, in The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, volume 8
  2. (idiomatic) To be unable (perhaps figuratively) to approach something or someone.
    • On the contrary, my dear Mr. Gordon, it is because I do know him, or know of him, that I am turning him over to you. You are the one person in the world to obtain that coal lease. I confess I couldn't touch the Major with a ten-foot pole, any more than you could go North and get the cash. But you...Francis Lynde, The Quickening

Forms of not touch with a ten-foot pole

alternative formnot touch something with a barge pole

Origin of not touch with a ten-foot pole

Sense 1 attested in 1846; sense 2 in 1844.

Questions about not touch with a ten-foot pole

What does not touch with a ten-foot pole mean?
Not touch with a ten-foot pole means to avoid something at all costs; to refuse to associate with something; signifies a strong aversion.
What part of speech is not touch with a ten-foot pole?
Not touch with a ten-foot pole is a verb.

Words near not touch with a ten-foot pole in the dictionary

  1. not to put too fine a word on it
  2. not to say
  3. not to speak of
  4. not to worry
  5. not touch with a barge pole
  6. not touch with a ten-foot pole
  7. not up
  8. not want to do that
  9. not wanted on voyage
  10. not while pussy's a cat
  11. not win for losing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: not touch with a ten-foot pole (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-not touch something with a ten foot pole.ogg.

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