teeter

verb

1. (intransitive)To tilt back and forth on an edge.

   “He teetered on the brink of the precipice.”

   “The concrete floors of B2B sheds were already being built to an exacting degree of flatness, calibrated using lasers, so that forklifts would not teeter while lifting pallets to the highest shelves.”

   “This is not a land of blowouts. It’s a middle ground, and that’s reflected in voter registration rolls. Nearly 2.6 million North Carolinians declare themselves unaffiliated, while just over 2.4 million identify as Democrats and just under 2.2 million as Republicans. We don’t tilt. We teeter.”

2. (intransitive)To totter (move unsteadily).

   “How many other organizations have sprung up amidst apparently unlimited energy, been the focus of a great deal of activism and education, and then begun to diminish? Some teeter along for a long time even though their base of support seems to have eroded; some metamorphose into something else entirely. Others die, and their death may be more or less peaceful, more or less guilt-riddled.”

3. (figuratively)To be indecisive; to hesitate.

   “We teetered on the fence about buying getaway tickets and missed the opportunity.”

4. (figuratively)To be close to becoming a typically negative situation.

   “Despite appearances, the firm was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.”

noun

1. (Canada, US)A teeter-totter or seesaw.

name

1. A surname from German.