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

Now the pressure is on Vegas, the best in the Pacific, to even the series before getting pushed to the brink of elimination. —Shayna Goldman, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2025

The filmmakers conclude that, though the city was pulled back from the brink of catastrophe, it was also definitively changed for the worse. —Richard Brody, New Yorker, 23 Apr. 2025

These days, additional factors push the world closer to the brink. —Orlando Sentinel and Chicago Tribune Editorial Boards, The Orlando Sentinel, 22 Apr. 2025

The presidential campaign was in full swing when Lehman Brothers collapsed in September and other financial institutions teetered on the brink. —Karlyn Bowman, Forbes.com, 21 Apr. 2025