the brink

noun

: the edge at the top of a steep cliff

—usually used figuratively to refer to a point that is very close to the occurrence of something very bad or (less commonly) very good

He nearly lost everything because of his drug addiction, but his friends helped to pull him back from the brink.

The two nations are on the brink of war.

Doctors may be on the brink of finding a cure for this disease.

an animal that has been brought/pulled back from the brink of extinction

Examples of the brink in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Disney's new live-action Moana recently premiered, but another significant milestone happened earlier this year with the release of Moana 2 in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, Hawaii's indigenous language that was once on the brink of extinction. — Regina Kim, Forbes.com, 17 July 2026

With the Miami Marlins teetering on the brink of a free fall a month and a half ago, manager Clayton McCullough presented a brief message to his players during a team meeting. — Will Sammon, New York Times, 17 July 2026

Set in a broken school system pushed to the brink, Teach You A Lesson follows the Teachers’ Rights Protection Bureau, a fictional government agency created to protect victims and restore order when students, teachers, and parents cross the line. — Katie Campione, Deadline, 16 July 2026

With this premise, Brandl brews a heady, destabilizing concoction of uncanny horror and bone-dry humor to depict a man on the brink, whose demons—whether real or imagined—just might be catching up with him. — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 15 July 2026

Rhymes for the brink

• bethink
• downlink
• groupthink
• hoodwink
• rethink
• uplink
• blink
• chink
• cinque
• clink
• dink
• drink