Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for tread water

tread water



Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

Expend effort that maintains one's status but does not make much progress toward a goal, as in He was just treading water from paycheck to paycheck . This idiom alludes to the term's literal meaning, that is, “keep one's head above water by remaining upright and pumping the legs.”

Advertisement

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


tread the boardstreas.