tread lightly
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to proceed with caution and avoid offending or upsetting others
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
tiến hành thận trọng để tránh làm tổn thương hoặc xúc phạm người khác
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: walk carefully
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The manager told the employee to tread lightly when discussing the new policy with the team.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “tread lightly” mean?
to proceed with caution and avoid offending or upsetting others Literally: walk carefully
Is “tread lightly” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.