Word.ws English Dictionary

on thin ice

on thin ice prepositional phrase: in a dangerous, hazardous, or delicate situation; at risk.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) In a dangerous, hazardous, or delicate situation; at risk.
    • Ever since he was caught stealing office supplies, he has been on thin ice with his boss.

Adverb

on thin ice (not comparable)

  1. (idiomatic) Dangerously, hazardously, delicately.

on thin ice meaning in Indonesian

on thin ice in Indonesian

at risk
abu di atas tanggul

Origin of on thin ice

Suggesting a person skating or walking on a frozen-over body of water, at risk of breaking through and falling into the water.

Questions about on thin ice

What does on thin ice mean?
On thin ice means in a dangerous, hazardous, or delicate situation; at risk.
What is on thin ice in Indonesian?
On thin ice in Indonesian is abu di atas tanggul. See On thin ice meaning in Indonesian.
What part of speech is on thin ice?
On thin ice can be a prepositional phrase or an adverb.

Words near on thin ice in the dictionary

  1. on the wings of the wind
  2. on the wrong foot
  3. on the wrong side of history
  4. on the wrong side of the blanket
  5. on the wrong track
  6. on thin ice
  7. on this score
  8. on threes
  9. on tick
  10. on tilt
  11. on time

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on thin ice (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-on thin ice.ogg.

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