touch and go

¹

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.

touch-and-go

²

[ tuhch-uhn-goh ]

adjective

1. risky; precarious:

   a touch-and-go descent down the mountain.

2. hasty, sketchy, or desultory.

touch and go

adjective

1. touch-and-go when prenominal risky or critical

   a touch-and-go situation

touch and go

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of touch and go¹

First recorded in 1645–55

Origin of touch and go²

First recorded in 1805–15

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

His loneliness “nearly killed him,” he said, acknowledging that he came close to acting on his suicidal ideation: “It was very touch and go at times.”

From Los Angeles Times

"It was so touch and go at every single show," he said.

From BBC

“He’s been battling it since spring training … and since he’s been back, it’s been kind of touch and go, good, then not good,” Roberts said.

From Los Angeles Times

It was the wrong time of year to grow the material that was salvaged from the iconic tree and things have been “touch and go”, Darryl Beck, who has been tending to the seedlings explains.

From BBC

It was touch and go all the way to the very doors of the Royal Suite.

From Literature