Meaning
To avoid committing to either side of a dispute, contest, or decision; to remain neutral or undecided. Usually mildly critical, implying indecisiveness or a self-serving refusal to take a stand, though it can simply describe genuinely undecided parties such as swing voters. Conversational and mildly disparaging; the noun fence-sitter carries the same tinge of indecision or opportunism. Regional use: General English (originally American).
Origin
The phrase is recorded first in American English. Etymonline dates the figurative use of 'on the fence' meaning uncommitted to 1828 and suggests it may come from the notion of spectators perched on a fence to watch a fight. The earliest detailed definition appears in John Russell Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms (1848): 'In politics, to be on the fence, is to be neutral, or to be ready to join the strongest party', explained by the image that a man sitting on top of a fence can jump down on either side with equal facility. The same dictionary records the companions 'fence-man' and 'fence-riding', and James Russell Lowell's Biglow Papers (1848) already applied the fence image to wavering politicians. From that American political soil the phrase spread into general English, where it remains a staple of commentary on elections and office disputes alike.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- be on the fence
- come down off the fence
- fence-sitter
- fence-sitting
- straddle the fence
Usage Examples
- The moderators cannot sit on the fence forever; eventually they have to enforce one interpretation of the rules.
- He sat on the fence throughout the debate, nodding warmly at whichever side had just spoken.
- Stop sitting on the fence and tell us plainly whether you support the merger or not.