teeter

Etymology

Alteration of titter.

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. November 21 2019, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian
   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. 2023-05-04, Frank Bruni, “Republicans Are Running Wild in My State”, in The New York Times
2. (intransitive) To totter (move unsteadily).
3. (figurative) To be indecisive.
   We teetered on the fence about buying getaway tickets and missed the opportunity.
4. (figurative) 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.