Precarious - A Dangerous SAT Word
Can you envision a boulder balancing at the edge of a cliff with a slight breeze?
If it’s precarious, then it’s just teetering on the edge, just about to fall, crash, explode, or whatever bad thing. It’s the moment that action movies will drag out for minutes—the protagonist walking along a ledge of a tall building or the hero dodging gunfire to rescue a fallen comrade. It can even be more figurative and refer to a situation, for example, saber-rattling between two nuclear powers.
📚️ Definition of Precarious
Precarious (adjective): Dangerously lacking in stability or security; dependent on chance circumstances or unknown conditions. Example: The hiker was in a precarious position on the cliff edge.
🗣️ Pronunciation of Precarious
IPA: /prɪˈkɛər.i.əs/ (See IPA key)
Respelling: prih-KAIR-ee-uhs
📰 Examples of Precarious
Here are some examples of the word precarious:
I had to leave my laptop in a precarious position on the edge of the sofa because I heard Amazon ring my bell, and we’ve had a rash of package thefts recently.
A major tourist draw, The Leaning Tower of Pisa has kept its precarious tilt for hundreds of years.
“Your grades are in a precarious position right now—you seriously need to pull out all the stops to get your grades up.”
