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Glite Dictionary
to tippytoe

to tippytoe

7.4
To walk quietly on your toes to avoid making noise
  • verb
  • /ˈtɪpiˌtoʊ/
translation icon : andar de puntillas
  • To surprise her friends, she decided to tippytoe into the room quietly.

Examples

  • Everyone else was tippytoeing around him, speaking slowly and softly.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Tippytoeing around my own house, Effie thought, shaking her head.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • And stop tippytoeing around out there!

    The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)

  • She had to tippytoe past the sleeping baby to avoid waking him up.

  • The cat was tippytoeing along the edge of the table, trying to reach the food.

Synonyms

to tiptoe
vsto tippytoe
44 3.1

To walk quietly on the toes to avoid making noise

is less focused on secretive or stealthy movement
to tip
vsto tippytoe
9 6.7

To walk quietly on the tips of your toes

is firmer and more careful to avoid noise rather than mere lightness
to pussyfoot
vsto tippytoe
  • Informal
8.9

To move quietly and carefully to avoid being noticed

is a specific physical movement on the tips of the feet rather than general caution

Antonyms

to stomp
144 2.9

To walk heavily and loudly to show anger or determination

How Quiet

to tippytoe
7.4
sneak
2 5.6
to walk
∞ 1.0
to stamp
24 1.4

Surface Forms

tippytoe infinitive
tippytoed past
tippytoed past participle
tippytoeing present participle
tippytoes third person singular

Morphology

tippytoe = tippy + toe (transparent) = tippy + toe

The verb is a straightforward compound of 'tippy' (on tiptoe) + 'toe', so the action 'to walk on the tips of the toes' is directly derivable.

Etymology

Tippytoe comes from the simple image of standing on the very end of your toes: tip ('end' or 'point') plus toe, and it is like the common word tiptoe. The extra -y makes the word sound small or playful, so to tippytoe is to walk quietly on your toes to avoid making noise.