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

In Pakistan’s Faisalabad, environmental degradation intersected with labor precarity. —Alexandra Harrell, Sourcing Journal, 18 Mar. 2026

But the pandemic laid bare the child care industry’s precarity and necessity. —Moriah Balingit, Chicago Tribune, 17 Mar. 2026

The book cover trend, imbued with nostalgia for childhood, promises fiction that grapples with the pangs of adulthood in an age of precarity. —Maddie Connors, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2026

Alicia enlists the aid of an unseen engineer to help understand the precarity of the structure, their discussions heard over eerie 3D renderings of the silos that resemble X-rays. —Matthew Carey, Deadline, 16 Mar. 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