Crossword clues for precarious
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Precarious \Pre*ca"ri*ous\, a. [L. precarius obtained by begging or prayer, depending on request or on the will of another, fr. precari to pray, beg. See Pray.]
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.-
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.
Usage: 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. [1913 Webster] -- Pre*ca"ri*ous*ly, adv. -- Pre*ca"ri*ous*ness, n.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1640s, a legal word, "held through the favor of another," from Latin precarius "obtained by asking or praying," from prex (genitive precis) "entreaty, prayer" (see pray). Notion of "dependent on the will of another" led to extended sense "risky, dangerous, uncertain" (1680s). "No word is more unskillfully used than this with its derivatives. It is used for uncertain in all its senses; but it only means uncertain, as dependent on others ..." [Johnson]. Related: Precariously; precariousness.
Wiktionary
Etymology 1 a. (context comparable English) dangerously insecure or unstable; perilous. Etymology 2
a. (context dentistry English) Relating to incipient caries.
WordNet
adj. affording no ease or reassurance; "a precarious truce" [syn: unstable]
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" [syn: parlous, perilous, touch-and-go]
dangerously insecure; "a precarious footing on the ladder"
not secure; beset with difficulties; "a shaky marriage" [syn: shaky]
Usage examples of "precarious".
His meagre salary made heating the room a precarious business even in those relatively affluent days.
During this precarious state of the supreme power, a difference would immediately be experienced between those portions of territory which were subjected to the feudal tenures, and those which were possessed by an allodial or free title.
I was a sickly and precarious and tiresome and uncertain child, and lived mainly on allopathic medicines during the first seven years of my life.
Culminating in a final terrible moment when all is revealed, Brat Farrar is a precarious adventure that grips the reader early and firmly and then holds on until the explosive conclusion.
It kept them out of the water and away from melk, but it was a precarious perch.
Marcy felt unable to move for more reasons than her precarious towel, the purring cat she held, for even more than the melty feeling.
It was the end of an exile she had not known she bore, and it nearly overset her precarious emotional balance.
Theodosius, we are reduced to illustrate the partial narrative of Zosimus, by the obscure hints of fragments and chronicles, by the figurative style of poetry or panegyric, and by the precarious assistance of the ecclesiastical writers, who, in the heat of religious faction, are apt to despise the profane virtues of sincerity and moderation.
It ended with a pithy comment on the precarious nature of the biotech industry and was topped by a grainy photograph of three men emerging from No.
Burnet, the typical Whig, had protested against such limitations as should quite change the form of our government, and render the crown titular and precarious.
The contrast of her own pretty apartment with the shabby, worn rooms of the Reddon flat brought home to her, as nothing else had, her precarious situation.
Barbarians, and the security of the Romans: from that day, the Goths, renouncing the precarious condition of strangers and exiles, assumed the character of citizens and masters, claimed an absolute dominion over the possessors of land, and held, in their own right, the northern provinces of the empire, which are bounded by the Danube.
Redick proceeded to miss another three, Shelden Williams picked up his fourth foul, and suddenly, with 6:47 left in the game, Duke clung to a precarious five-point lead, 44 to 39.
As senior, I had my choice of bunks and got first serving at morning and afternoon mess, and I supposedly controlled the wardroom, though I was aware my authority was precarious at best.
Edward of Caernarvon would assume overall command of the English army on behalf of his father, whose health remained precarious.