Precarious Meaning and Usage

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Meaning:

adjective
1. Dangerously lacking in security or stability
"a precarious posture"
"precarious footing on the ladder"
"the company's precarious financial position"

2. Subject to chance or unknown conditions:
“the precarious life of an underseas diver”,

3. Based on uncertain, unwarranted, or unproved premises:
“a precarious solution to a difficult problem”

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Derivatives:
precariously - adverb
precariousness - noun


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Use precarious in a sentence:

1. The precarious bridge had already claimed two peoples' lives that year.

2. The precarious plans fell through when the second couple changed their minds.

3. My position in the negotiations was precarious at best.

4. He held a precarious tenure under an arbitrary administration.

5. The vase balanced precariously on the edge of the shelf.

6. Droughts, competition for land, and the loss of their slaves have made the nomadic existence increasingly precarious.

7. Her health remained precarious, despite the treatment.

8. He stood precariously on the edge of the cliff with no where else to go, and he demanded help to get back to his home.

9. Joanna knows that acting is an economically precarious profession, but she's determined to make her living in the theater.

10. "This little happiness is so very precarious, that it wholly depends on the will of others."


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Synonyms:

infirm, insecure, shaky, tottering, tottery, unstable, unsteady, unsure, weak, wobbly, dangerous, uncertain, tricky, risky, doubtful, dubious, unsettled, dodgy, parlous, perilous, unsafe

Antonyms:

certain, definite, firm, safe, secure, stable, strong, sure, undoubted

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Origin:
Derived originally from the Latin precari, it first signified "granted to entreaty," and, hence, "wholly dependent on the will of another." Thus it came to express the highest species of uncertainty, and is applied to such things as depend wholly on future casualties.


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Some more examples:

1. The way the bird's cage was placed on top of the counter was very precarious.

2. He found himself at the edge of the cliff in a precarious position because one wrong step and he would fall into the sea.

3. Without statutory status the future of local authority services will remain precarious.

4. Negotiators on both sides knew that it was a precarious truce.

5. As Mark walked a precarious path between the two buildings, a gust of wind blew him off-balance and he tragically fell from the tight-rope hundreds of feet to his death.

6. The precarious robber took the initiative to lead the bank robbery knowing the consequences may affect his life forever.