Word.ws English Dictionary

walk on eggshells

UK/ˌwɔːk ɒn ˈɛɡʃɛlz/US/ˌwɔk ɑn ˈɛɡʃɛlz/

walk on eggshells verb: to be overly careful in dealing with a person or situation because they get angry or offended very easily; to try very hard not to upset someone or something.

Verb

walk on eggshells (third-person singular simple present walks on eggshells, present participle walking on eggshells, simple past and past participle walked on eggshells)

  1. (idiomatic) To be overly careful in dealing with a person or situation because they get angry or offended very easily; to try very hard not to upset someone or something.
  2. (idiomatic) To be careful and sensitive, in handling very sensitive matters.

walk on eggshells meaning in Tamil

walk on eggshells in Tamil

கவனமாக நடத்தல், பார்த்து நடந்துகொள்தல்

Forms of walk on eggshells

third-person singular presentwalks on eggshells
present participlewalking on eggshells
past participlewalked on eggshells
pastwalked on eggshells

Origin of walk on eggshells

1800s usage, probably from the imagery that eggshells are easily broken when stepped upon.

Questions about walk on eggshells

What does walk on eggshells mean?
Walk on eggshells means to be overly careful in dealing with a person or situation because they get angry or offended very easily; to try very hard not to upset someone or something.
What is walk on eggshells in Tamil?
Walk on eggshells in Tamil is கவனமாக நடத்தல், பார்த்து நடந்துகொள்தல். See Walk on eggshells meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is walk on eggshells?
Walk on eggshells is a verb.
How do you pronounce walk on eggshells?
Walk on eggshells is pronounced /ˌwɔːk ɒn ˈɛɡʃɛlz/ (UK).
What is the past tense of walk on eggshells?
The past tense of walk on eggshells is walked on eggshells.

Words near walk on eggshells in the dictionary

  1. walk off with
  2. walk on
  3. walk on air
  4. walk on broken glass
  5. walk on by
  6. walk on eggshells
  7. walk on one's lower lip
  8. walk on sunshine
  9. walk on the wild side
  10. walk on water
  11. walk one's chalks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: walk on eggshells (page history and authors); walk on eggshells (Tamil Wiktionary) (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-walk on eggshells.ogg.

Cite this entry: “walk on eggshells.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/walk_on_eggshells. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.