PRECARIOUS

precarious, unstable

(adjective) affording no ease or reassurance; “a precarious truce”

parlous, perilous, precarious, touch-and-go

(adjective) fraught with danger; “dangerous waters”; “a parlous journey on stormy seas”; “a perilous voyage across the Atlantic in a small boat”; “the precarious life of an undersea diver”; “dangerous surgery followed by a touch-and-go recovery”

precarious, shaky

(adjective) not secure; beset with difficulties; “a shaky marriage”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

---

Etymology 1

Adjective

precarious (comparative more precarious, superlative most precarious)

(comparable) Dangerously insecure or unstable; perilous.

(legal) Depending on the intention of another.

Usage notes

Because the pre- element of precarious derives from prex and not the preposition prae, this term cannot — etymologically speaking — be written as *præcarious.

Synonyms

• (not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over): unsteady, rickety, shaky, tottering, unsafe, unstable, wobbly

Etymology 2

pre- + carious

Adjective

precarious (not comparable)

(dentistry) Relating to incipient caries.

Source: Wiktionary

---

Pre*ca"ri*ous, a. Etym: [L. precarius obtained by begging or prayer, depending on request or on the will of another, fr. precari to pray, beg. See Pray.]

1. Depending on the will or pleasure of another; held by courtesy; liable to be changed or lost at the pleasure of another; as, precarious privileges. Addison.

2. Held by a doubtful tenure; depending on unknown causes or events; exposed to constant risk; not to be depended on for certainty or stability; uncertain; as, a precarious state of health; precarious fortunes. "Intervals of partial and precarious liberty." Macaulay.

Syn.

– Uncertain; unsettled; unsteady; doubtful; dubious; equivocal.

– Precarious, Uncertain. Precarious in stronger than uncertain. 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.

– Pre*ca"ri*ous*ly, adv.

– Pre*ca"ri*ous*ness, n.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

---