precarious
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Latin precārius (“begged for, obtained by entreaty”), from prex, precis (“prayer”). Compare French précaire and Spanish, Portuguese and Italian precario.
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Adjective
precarious (comparative more precarious, superlative most precarious)
- (comparable) dangerously insecure or unstable; perilous
- (law) depending on the intention of another
[edit] 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.
[edit] Quotations
- 1906, Jack London, White Fang, part I, ch III,
- Never had he been so fond of this body of his as now when his tenure of it was so precarious.
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations
Translations
[edit] External links
- precarious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- precarious in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911