Meanings

Verb

juggle verb /ˈdʒʌɡl/

Verb Forms
  1. present simple I / you / we / they juggle /ˈdʒʌɡl/; he / she / it juggles /ˈdʒʌɡlz/
  2. past simple juggled /ˈdʒʌɡld/
  3. past participle juggled /ˈdʒʌɡld/
  4. -ing form juggling /ˈdʒʌɡlɪŋ/

  1. [intransitive, transitive] to throw a set of three or more objects such as balls into the air and catch and throw them again quickly, one at a time, so as to keep at least one in the air at all times || to perform the tricks of a juggler || to hold or balance precariously || to throw and catch (several objects) continuously so that most are in the air all the time, as an entertainment || 玩杂耍（连续向空中抛接多个物体）

    • My uncle taught me to juggle. 我叔叔教我玩杂耍。
    • I can’t juggle.
    • He is learning to juggle.
    • He juggled four balls at once.
    • Soon she was juggling five eggs.
    • juggle with something to juggle with balls 抛接球

    • juggle something (figurative) I was juggling books, shopping bags and the baby (= I was trying to hold them all without dropping them). 我手里又是书，又是购物袋，还抱着孩子，跟演杂技一样。

      juggling [uncountable noun]

    • He can perform an astonishing variety of acts, including mime and juggling.

  2. [transitive, intransitive] juggle (something) (with something) to try to deal with two or more important jobs or activities at the same time so that you can fit all of them into your life || to handle or deal with usually several things (such as obligations) at one time so as to satisfy often competing requirements || If you juggle lots of different things, for example your work and your family, you try to give enough time or attention to all of them. || to keep (several activities) in progress, esp with difficulty 尽力同时应付（两个或更多的重要工作或活动）；尽量兼顾

    • Working mothers are used to juggling their jobs, their children’s needs and their housework. 为人母的职业女性已经习惯了既要工作，又要照顾孩子，还得做家务。
    • I’m sure I can juggle things around to fit you in. 我敢肯定，我可以摆弄一些东西使你适应。
    • juggle the responsibilities of family life and full-time job — Jane S. Gould
    • She somehow manages to juggle a dozen tasks at once.
    • The management team meets several times a week to juggle budgets and resources.
    • Mike juggled the demands of a family of 11 with a career as a TV reporter.

  3. [transitive] juggle something to organize information, figures, the money you spend, etc. in the most useful or effective way 有效地组织，有效利用（信息、数字、开支等）

    • It can be hard to juggle family responsibilities and the demands of a full-time job.
    • I’ll have to juggle my schedule a bit to get this all to work out.

  4. [transitive, intransitive] to engage in manipulation especially in order to achieve a desired end || to practice deceit or trickery on : BEGUILE || to arrange or manipulate (facts, figures, etc) so as to give a false
    or misleading picture || to manipulate or practice trickery on so as to deceive or cheat

    • juggle an account to hide a loss
    • to juggle figures so as to show a profit
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Phrasal Verbs

juggle (someone or something) around

  1. To move one or more people or things into different positions, especially in order to accommodate other people or things. | to alter the position or sequence of someone or something. A noun or pronoun can be used between “juggle” and “around.”
    • We’ll need to juggle around some of the seating arrangements to fit the new attendees.
    • Even though we had assigned seats for the flight, they kept juggling us around at the last minute.

  2. To reschedule various appointments or events to different times or dates, especially in order to accommodate someone or something. A noun or pronoun can be used between “juggle” and “around.”

    • I’ll have to juggle some things around, but I should be able to fit you in for a checkup on Monday.

    • We’ll need to juggle around some of the musical acts to have enough time for the fireworks display.

      See also: around, juggle

Idioms

juggle (an amount of) balls in the air / keep balls in the air: To have a number of different activities in progress; to deal with or oversee several different things at once.

  • Rather than focusing on a single project, Tara prefers to juggle a number of balls in the air at once.
  • I’m not surprised he’s so burnt out—he was juggling way too many balls in the air at the same time.
  • You can’t juggle all these balls in the air and expect to stay successful for long. You need to delegate some of these tasks to lower management.

See also: air, amount, ball, juggle

Noun

  1. an act or instance of juggling; a trick of magic
  2. a show of manual dexterity
  3. an act of manipulation especially to achieve a desired end
    • a temporary suspension of the gas tax was just a crowd-pleasing juggle that was not a long-term solution to the energy problem
Synonyms & Similar Words
Idioms

a juggling act / a balancing act: A particularly difficult and precarious situation in which several things are being attempted or must be maintained at the same time | a process in which somebody tries to please two or more people or groups who want different things

  • I think I need to hire an assistant, because keeping track of all these accounts and transactions on my own has become quite a juggling act!
  • Watching three small children at once is quite a juggling act because each one always needs something.
  • I could never keep up the juggling act that goes into having an affair. I am quite happy to be a one woman man, thank you very much!

See also: act, juggle

See also:

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English jogelen, from Anglo-French jugler, from Latin joculari to jest, joke, from joculus, diminutive of jocus joke

First Known Use

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Noun

1664, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of juggle was in the 15th century

See more words from the same century

Entries Near

References

  1. 牛津高阶（第10版 英汉双解） V3.0
  2. Merriam-Webster Dictionary | Juggle
  3. Collins English Dictionary: juggle
  4. The Free Dictionary juggle | Thesaurs | Idioms