precarity

noun

pre·​car·​i·​ty pri-ˈker-ə-tē 

: the state or condition of being precarious : precariousness

The older brother—Dave—raises the younger one, a responsibility that gives him a perpetual sense of life's urgency and precarity.

—Paul Elie

Job precarity can add to a number of social and economic challenges facing millennials including rising personal debts, growing costs of living, shrinking access to pensions and lower retirement savings.

—Arif Jetha

Examples of precarity in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Over the past couple of centuries interest in male muscle development and fitness has peaked during times of economic precarity and conflict. — Gavin Francis, The New York Review of Books, 3 Oct. 2026

When systems create precarity, reward hoarding and concentrate gatekeeping power, defensive leadership becomes rational self-protection. — Jonathan H. Westover, Forbes.com, 29 Sep. 2026

Burry cited recent research from Ares Management that emphasized the precarity of relying on unproven revenues in the AI space, structured with demanding legal agreements. — Tobias Burns, CNBC, 28 Sep. 2026

How is that person just living with precarity of a different kind? — Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

probably borrowed from French précarité, from précaire "granted or exercised only with the permission of another, insecure, uncertain" (going back to Middle French, borrowed from Latin precārius "given as a favor, uncertain, precarious") + -ité -ity

First Known Use

1910, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for precarity

• alterity
• asperity
• austerity
• celerity
• dexterity
• disparity
• hilarity
• molarity
• planarity
• polarity
• posterity
• prosperity