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

However, overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction and climate change are pushing marine ecosystems to the brink; overfishing is the most pressing of these threats. —Camila Cáceres, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2025

The cruel and wasteful practice of shark finning − cutting off fins and discarding the still-living animals back into the sea − pushes shark populations towards the brink of extinction and jeopardizes marine ecosystems. —Natalie Neysa Alund, USA Today, 21 Nov. 2025

Robotaxis are on the brink of becoming mainstream, the Baidu CEO Robin Li said. —Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 21 Nov. 2025

His return comes with the season teetering on the brink of collapse after the Kings lost 11 of their first 14 games while facing a brutal schedule without one of their most irreplaceable players. —Jason Anderson, Sacbee.com, 18 Nov. 2025