touch-and-go

touch-and-go

(tŭch′ən-gō′)

adj.

Dangerous and uncertain in nature or outcome; precarious; delicate: major surgery followed by a touch-and-go recovery.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Thesaurus

Adj.

1.

touch-and-go - fraught with danger; "dangerous waters"; "a parlous journey on stormy seas"; "a perilous voyage across the Atlantic in a small boat"; "the precarious life of an undersea diver"; "dangerous surgery followed by a touch-and-go recovery" parlous, perilous, precarious dangerous, unsafe - involving or causing danger or risk; liable to hurt or harm; "a dangerous criminal"; "a dangerous bridge"; "unemployment reached dangerous proportions"

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

touch-and-go

adjective

Requiring great tact or skill:

delicate, sensitive, ticklish, touchy, tricky.

The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Translations

touch-and-go

[ˈtʌtʃənˈgəʊ]

A. N it's touch-and-go whether he'll survive → no se sabe si sobrevivirá
it was touch-and-go whether we'd arrive before we ran out of petrol → no estaba nada seguro de que la gasolina nos fuera a dar para llegar
we made it, but it was touch-and-go → lo conseguimos, pero por los pelos

B. ADJ [decision] → difícil, dudoso

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

touch-and-go

adj to be touch-and-go → riskant or prekär sein; it’s touch-and-go whether … → es steht auf des Messers Schneide, ob …; he won eventually but it was touch-and-go for a while → er gewann schließlich, aber es stand eine Zeit lang auf des Messers Schneide; it’s touch-and-go if we’ll make it → es ist noch vollkommen offen, ob wir es schaffen; after his operation it was touch-and-go → nach der Operation hing sein Leben an einem Faden

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

touch-and-go

[ˌtʌtʃənˈgəʊ] adj → incerto/a
it's touch-and-go whether ... → è incerto se...
it was touch-and-go with the sick man → il malato era tra la vita e la morte

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995