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Meaning of precarious | Babel Free

Adjective CEFR C2 Specialized
pɹɪˈkɛəɹi.əs

Definitions

  1. Dangerously insecure or unstable; perilous.
    comparable
  2. Relating to incipient caries.
    not-comparable
  3. Depending on the intention of another.

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”
“Never had he been so fond of this body of his as now when his tenure of it was so precarious.”
“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.”
“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.”

CEFR level

C2
Mastery
This word is part of the CEFR C2 vocabulary — mastery level.
See all C2 English words →

See also

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