toe the line

Idioms and Phrases

Also, toe the mark . Meet a standard, abide by the rules, as in The new director will make us toe the line, I'm sure , or At daycare Brian has to toe the mark, but at home his mother's quite lenient . This idiom refers to runners in a race placing their toes on the starting line and not moving until the starting signal. Its figurative use dates from the early 1800s.

Example Sentences

He worked as a columnist for many years, but gradually fell foul of the Algerian government because of his refusal to toe the line.

From BBC

Rodgers has practically begged the fans to toe the line.

From BBC

Harris' campaign has attempted to toe the line between appealing to and assuaging the concerns of both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian voters.

From Salon

Warner’s statements came a few months after announcing his campaign after years of toeing the line on the 2020 election.

From Seattle Times

“We toe the line by reporting the signals that we think are real signals and reporting them as soon as we identify them as signals,” he said.

From New York Times