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straddle

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straddle the fence

Fig. to support both sides of an issue. (As if one were partly on either side of a fence.) The mayor is straddling the fence on this issue, hoping the public will forget it. The legislator wanted to straddle the fence until the last minute, and that alone cost her a lot of votes.

See also: fence, straddle

on the fence, be

Also, straddle the fence. Be undecided, not committed, as in I don't know if I'll move there; I'm still on the fence, or He's straddling the fence about the merger. This picturesque expression, with its implication that one can jump to either side, at first was applied mainly to political commitments. [Early 1800s]

See also: on

straddle the fence

tv. to support both sides of an issue. The mayor is straddling the fence on this issue, hoping the public will forget it.

See also: fence, straddle

straddle the fence

Informal

To be undecided or uncommitted.

See also: fence, straddle