Definition of precarious
1a
: dependent on chance circumstances, unknown conditions, or uncertain developments
… forced to earn a precarious living as a door-to-door salesman.— Peter Ackroyd Their wealth was precarious, liable to be seized by the sultan if they fell from favour …— Albert Hourani … the resilience of our still-evolving planet, where life is always precarious but always tenacious.— Robert MacKenzie
b
: characterized by a lack of security or stability that threatens with danger
His balance looks precarious, and I try to talk him down …— Blake Morrison In spite of his precarious emotional state, he wrote more than two dozen books …— Liesl Schillinger At 82 years old, she was in precarious health and had respiratory problems.— Annabelle Olivier … a downturn in food supply could tip a precarious balance.— Mary Cherry If the condition of the biosphere is even half as precarious as the environmentalists suggest, then the twenty-first century must, of necessity, abandon the theory of value so lovingly displayed in the windows of Bloomingdale's.— Lewis H. Lapham
3
archaic
: depending on the will or pleasure of another
In rank and authority these officers seemed not inferior to the ancient proconsuls; but their station was dependent and precarious.— Edward Gibbon
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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Time Traveler for precarious
The first known use of precarious was in 1626
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