precarious

adj
/pɹɪˈkɛəɹi.əs/US

Etymology

From Latin precārius (“begged for, obtained by entreaty”), from prex, precis (“prayer”). Compare French précaire, Portuguese precário, and Spanish and Italian precario.

  1. derived from *-went-
  2. derived from -ōsos
  3. derived from -ōsus
  4. derived from -eux
  5. derived from *ḱes-
  6. derived from *kazēō
  7. derived from cariēs
  8. derived from carieux
  9. formed as precarious — “pre- + carious

Definitions

  1. Dangerously insecure or unstable

    Dangerously insecure or unstable; perilous.

    • 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.
  2. Depending on the intention of another.

  3. Relating to incipient caries.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at precarious. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01precarious02intention03course04mast05slim06questionable07dubious08uncertain09unsure

A definitional loop anchored at precarious. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at precarious

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA