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to straddle

to straddle

13 6.6
To avoid choosing a side in a disagreement
  • verb
  • /ˈstrædəl/
translation icon : no comprometerse
  • To avoid conflict, he often straddles the fence on controversial issues.
  • straddle the line
  • straddle the fence
  • straddle two cultures

So if you're able to straddle both, it's where you grow.

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Examples

  • I straddle the proverbial line that separates the two.

  • For years, low-income women have straddled the two worlds of welfare benefits and healthcare employment.

    Academic text (2001)
  • And it's just an amazing line that you manage to straddle every day.

  • I mean, at its best, it's really fun to try and straddle between those two worlds.

  • Nor would they be able to straddle the political fence.

    Academic text (2004)
  • So if you're able to straddle both, it's where you grow.

  • "You can't straddle two camps, and it's not possible for you to choose one.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • And I, I think I'm fortunate in the sense that I kind of get to straddle different realities.

  • The experience of Masamba Buso, whom I interviewed in Mbakke in 2002, straddled the line between "traditional" and "modern" Islamic education.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Evangelicals, the third of the leading strands in American Protestantism, straddle the divide between fundamentalists and liberals.

    Academic text (2006)

Synonyms

to hedge
vsto straddle
17 7.4

To avoid giving a direct answer or clear commitment

refuses to choose between sides rather than just dodging questions
to fence-sit
vsto straddle
  • Informal
8.1

Stay neutral and not choose a side in a disagreement

is a deliberate refusal to pick a side

To support two opposite sides at the same time to please both

avoids choosing a side without actively backing both groups

Antonyms

706 3.4

To give time, money, or effort to something

How Committed

champion
156 3.7
to take sides
39 3.1
to straddle
13 6.6
to fence-sit
  • Informal
8.1

Surface Forms

straddle infinitive
straddled past
straddled past participle
straddling present participle
straddles third person singular

Etymology

Think of straddle as sitting on a fence with a leg on each side so you are 'watching both sides' and not choosing. So to straddle an issue means to avoid taking one side.