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

Tommy Fleetwood has been on the brink of ending his PGA Tour winless streak twice this season—first at the Travelers Championship in June, then again this past weekend. —Mike Dojc, Forbes.com, 13 Aug. 2025

This past spring, Faten was on the brink of achieving her lifelong dreams: graduating from college. —Garrett Shanley, Miami Herald, 13 Aug. 2025

Now, even with fish ladders and hatcheries, 13 populations of fish in the Columbia and Snake rivers are on the brink of extinction, a devastating reality for the Indigenous communities whose livelihoods depend on fishing. —Becky Cooper, Travel + Leisure, 12 Aug. 2025

This time last year, if the U.S. had been on the brink of a 145% tariff increase on exports from China, markets would have been in meltdown. —Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 12 Aug. 2025