Word.ws English Dictionary

thread the needle

thread the needle verb: to perform a tedious task with extreme precision; to manage to find harmony or strike a balance between conflicting forces, interests, etc.

Verb

thread the needle (third-person singular simple present threads the needle, present participle threading the needle, simple past and past participle threaded the needle)

  1. (idiomatic) To perform a tedious task with extreme precision; to manage to find harmony or strike a balance between conflicting forces, interests, etc.
    • Were I writing for the Court, I would seek to thread the needle between acknowledging Principal Morse's authority, on the one hand, while respecting student Frederick's rights, on the other.2010, James C. Foster, Bong Hits 4 Jesus: A Perfect Constitutional Storm in Alaska's Capital, University of Alaska Press, published 2010, →ISBN, page 215
    • It was likely any resolution was going to seem like an anti-climax, and I thought this reveal threaded the needle quite well.2021 September 6, Zack Handlen, “Rick And Morty ends its fifth season looking for an escape hatch”, in AV Club
  2. To fly through a narrow gap; typically using a wingsuit.

Noun

thread the needle (uncountable)

  1. A game in which children stand in a row, joining hands, and in which the outer one, still holding their neighbor, runs between the others.
    Synonyms:
    thread needle

Synonyms of thread the needle

Forms of thread the needle

third-person singular presentthreads the needle
present participlethreading the needle
past participlethreaded the needle
pastthreaded the needle
alternative verbthread a needle

Origin of thread the needle

From the analogy of passing a thread through the eye of a needle, which requires great focus and precision to accomplish.

Questions about thread the needle

What does thread the needle mean?
Thread the needle means to perform a tedious task with extreme precision; to manage to find harmony or strike a balance between conflicting forces, interests, etc.
What part of speech is thread the needle?
Thread the needle can be a verb or a noun.
What is the past tense of thread the needle?
The past tense of thread the needle is threaded the needle.

Words near thread the needle in the dictionary

  1. thread of thought
  2. thread pool
  3. thread pools
  4. thread snake
  5. thread snakes
  6. thread the needle
  7. thread-legged bug
  8. thread-legged bugs
  9. thread-like
  10. thread-locking fluid
  11. thread-locking fluids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: thread the needle (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-thread the needle.ogg.

Cite this entry: “thread the needle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thread_the_needle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.