"fine line" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fine lines",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "fine line (plural fine lines)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "bright line"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "walk a fine line"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1991, Steven Wright, Hysteria",
          "text": "There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 June 20, Steve Rose, quoting Terry Hill, “The men continuing Ove Arup's architectural vision”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "\"We're not arrogant, we're confident about what we're doing,\" says Hill, \"But there's a fine line between them, isn't there?\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 May 16, Katie Allen, “A fine line”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "San Francisco songsters The Richter Scales give the world their take on the subprime meltdown in a song that advises there's also a fine line \"between the theories and the facts\", \"between what's solid and what cracks\" and \"between a gain and a crippling, crushing, mortally wounding decline\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 January 13, Nick Haramis, “When Did We All Become Pop Culture Detectives?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "Harvesting Easter eggs is now integral to our consumption of entertainment. But there’s a fine line between perceptiveness and paranoia.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A difference, albeit vague and difficult to discern."
      ],
      "id": "en-fine_line-en-noun-tw~L8Xkj",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A difference, albeit vague and difficult to discern."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "gray area"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "häilyvä raja"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "cienka linia"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-fine line.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/16/En-au-fine_line.ogg/En-au-fine_line.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/En-au-fine_line.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fine line"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "walk a fine line"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fine lines",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "fine line (plural fine lines)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "gray area"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "bright line"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English rhyming phrases",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Translation table header lacks gloss"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1991, Steven Wright, Hysteria",
          "text": "There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 June 20, Steve Rose, quoting Terry Hill, “The men continuing Ove Arup's architectural vision”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "\"We're not arrogant, we're confident about what we're doing,\" says Hill, \"But there's a fine line between them, isn't there?\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 May 16, Katie Allen, “A fine line”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "San Francisco songsters The Richter Scales give the world their take on the subprime meltdown in a song that advises there's also a fine line \"between the theories and the facts\", \"between what's solid and what cracks\" and \"between a gain and a crippling, crushing, mortally wounding decline\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 January 13, Nick Haramis, “When Did We All Become Pop Culture Detectives?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "Harvesting Easter eggs is now integral to our consumption of entertainment. But there’s a fine line between perceptiveness and paranoia.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A difference, albeit vague and difficult to discern."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A difference, albeit vague and difficult to discern."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-fine line.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/16/En-au-fine_line.ogg/En-au-fine_line.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/En-au-fine_line.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "häilyvä raja"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "cienka linia"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fine line"
}