Synonym Game

touch and go

touch and go

noun
1.
a precarious or delicate state of affairs: It was touch and go there for a while during the operation.
2.
quick action or movement: the touch and go of city traffic.

Origin:
1645–55

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Touch and go is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

touch-and-go

[tuhch-uhn-goh]
adjective
1.
risky; precarious: a touch-and-go descent down the mountain.
2.
hasty, sketchy, or desultory.

Origin:
1805–15
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
touch and go
 
adj
(touch-and-go when prenominal) risky or critical: a touch-and-go situation

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

touch and go definition


Uncertain or precarious: “The doctors told the patient that, even though her disease was in remission, from now on it was touch and go.”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary

touch and go definition


  1. mod.
    chancy. : It was touch and go for a while, but we are out of the woods now.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

touch and go

Extremely uncertain or risky, as in It was touch and go after the surgery; we were not sure he'd survive it, or It was touch and go but they finally gave me a seat on the plane. This idiom implies that a mere touch may cause a calamity. [Early 1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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