precarious

Intermediatezipf 3.27

Pronunciation

/prɪˈkɛəriəs/(prih-KAIR-ee-us)

Part of speech

adjectiveneutral

Chinese

不稳固的；危险的；不确定的

Definition

Not safe or stable; dependent on chance or uncertain conditions.

Word family

  • precariously/prɪˈkɛəriəsli/(adv)不稳定地
  • precariousness/prɪˈkɛəriəsnəs/(n)

Collocations

  • precarious position
  • precarious balance
  • precarious situation
  • precariously perched

Examples

  1. 1.The vase was balanced precariously on the edge of the shelf. (unstably)
  2. 2.Many freelancers face a precarious financial situation. (uncertain, risky)

Synonyms

  • unstable/ʌnˈsteɪbl/— not steady
  • risky/ˈrɪski/— involving risk
  • perilous/ˈpɛrɪləs/— extremely dangerous

Etymology

from Latin "precarius" = obtained by prayer — depending on someone else's goodwill — uncertain, not guaranteed