Definition of the brink
: 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
