Word.ws English Dictionary

thinking on one's feet

thinking on one's feet is the present participle and gerund of think on one's feet.

Meaning of think on one's feet

Verb

think on one's feet (third-person singular simple present thinks on one's feet, present participle thinking on one's feet, simple past and past participle thought on one's feet)

  1. (idiomatic) When one is in the middle of a process, activity, or conversation, to adjust rapidly, effectively, and intelligently to new developments or changing circumstances.
    • "There will be wine," said Medora. "Drink it. There may be toasts. Be ready to respond."
      Abner could think on his feet—speech would not fail.1901, Henry B. Fuller, chapter 24, in Under the Skylights

Questions about thinking on one's feet

What is thinking on one's feet the present participle and gerund of?
Thinking on one's feet is the present participle and gerund of think on one's feet.

Words near thinking on one's feet in the dictionary

  1. thinking nothing of
  2. thinking of
  3. thinking of England
  4. thinking of the children
  5. thinking on
  6. thinking on one's feet
  7. thinking one hung the moon
  8. thinking one is God's own cousin
  9. thinking one is it
  10. thinking one's shit doesn't stink
  11. thinking out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: thinking on one's feet (page history and authors); think on one's feet (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:

Cite this entry: “thinking on one's feet.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thinking_on_one%27s_feet. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.