From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishwalk a tightropewalk a tightropeto be in a difficult situation in which something bad could happen if you make a mistake I feel as though I’m walking a tightrope between success and failure. → tightrope
Examples from the Corpus
walk a tightrope• All organizations especially those that are growing, walk a tightrope between stability and change, tradition and revision.• It's like walking a tightrope in size-15 wellies.• But he's been doing very well at it despite having to learn terrifying new skills, like walking a tightrope.• Neurotics walk a tightrope from one catastrophe to the next.• The Profitboss walks a tightrope between research and risk, between research and opportunity.• The rare person who on the rare occasion wants to be wholly neutral has to walk a tightrope.• She sometimes felt she was walking a tightrope, wanting to be friendly with Therese, and yet terrified of upsetting Karl. 