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

That support came into doubt late last year, when the subway operator sought to tighten borrowing terms, and pushed the developer to the brink of default. —Bloomberg News, Bloomberg, 28 Jan. 2026

National leaders — particularly those in the United States, Russia, and China — must take the lead in finding a path away from the brink. —Rachel Wolf, FOXNews.com, 27 Jan. 2026

National leaders – particularly those in the United States, Russia, and China – must take the lead in finding a path away from the brink. —Doyle Rice, USA Today, 27 Jan. 2026

Song pushed O’Malley to the brink and the first was was close, but O’Malley was dominant in the third and final frame to earn the victory. —Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 25 Jan. 2026