Precarious Meaning
/pɹɪˈkɛəɹi.əs/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjDangerously insecure or unstable; perilous.
adjDepending on the intention of another.
Sentence Examples
The first-time precarious fisherman lazily fished dangerous poisonous fish, but soon stopped to shell peas.
The diplomats are in a precarious position.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The tall stack of plates on the counter was so ____ that it could fall.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The climber found herself in a ____ position on the narrow ledge with no rope to secure her.
Word Origin & History
From Latin precārius (“begged for, obtained by entreaty”), from prex, precis (“prayer”). Compare French précaire, Portuguese precário, and Spanish and Italian precario.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"Never had he been so fond of this body of his as now when his tenure of it was so precarious."
— 1906 May–October, Jack London, chapter III, in White Fang, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 1 (The Wild):
"The existence of Jewish partisans was precarious. They lived from hand to mouth, stealing when necessary, arranging secret deliveries of food, and spending hours and even days in holes in the ground when danger threatened."
— 2016, Doris L. Bergen, “8 - Flashover: The Killing Centers, 1942-1944”, in War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust, page 266:
"One can't escape the huge nuclear facility at Sellafield (supplier of much of the line's remaining freight traffic), or miss the wild shingle beaches with exposed and precarious bungalows sandwiched between the railway and the shore at Braystones."
— 2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 57:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The tall stack of plates on the counter was so ____ that it could fall.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The climber found herself in a ____ position on the narrow ledge with no rope to secure her.