walking a straight line
Balance test performance
Walking a straight line is a sobriety test in which a person attempts to walk heel-to-toe along an imaginary or marked line without wobbling or stepping off.
Police use it to assess impairment: The officer asked him to walk a straight line.
The phrase extends to any demonstration of physical or mental steadiness.
- field sobriety testRoadside intoxication assessment
- sobriety testImpairment assessment procedure
- blood alcoholEthanol concentration in bloodstream
- gaitLocomotion pattern
- balanceSteadiness or amount owed
motor control · posture · stride · locomotion · rectitude · precision · adherence · perseverance · concentration · alignment · trajectory · self-control · walk the line · determination · drunk driving · heel to toe · one foot in front · stability
walking a straight linestumbling
Walking clumsily, almost falling
staggering · weaving · swaying · falling down drunk · lurching
walking a straight linezigzagging
Moving in sharp turns
meandering · going in circles · doubling back · serpentining · straying
walking a straight linecoloring outside the lines
Deliberate deviation from expectations
breaking the rules · living on the edge · going rogue · rebelling · nonconformity
walks, walked, walker, walkers, walkway, walkways, straight, straights, straighter