The word "precarious" is common and formal. Use it to describe situations that haven't fallen apart yet, but seem likely to. It's a more pessimistic synonym of "delicate."

In the most literal sense, precarious objects or stacks of things seem likely to fall over at any moment. I had a bunch of precarious Ikea bookshelves once. They leaned forward precariously, as if ready to topple. (I probably should have anchored them to the wall as per Ikea's instructions.)

Slightly less literally, you might talk about a precarious source or supply of something, meaning it's unstable, likely to disappear or run out at any moment.

Or you might talk about a precarious situation, condition, position, relationship, lifestyle, or life, meaning it's shaky and unstable, likely to crumble or collapse.

Even more abstractly, an experience or a period of time could also be called precarious, if it seems full of shaky instability. Here's Joseph Heller: "For a few precarious seconds, the chaplain tingled with a weird, occult sensation of having experienced the identical situation before in some prior time or existence."

"Mr. Musk warned workers that Twitter remained in a precarious financial position and, at one point, had been four months away from running out of money."
— Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, New York Times, 26 March 2023

"'I'm afraid of being alone,' she whispered, as though she were afraid that normal speaking would bring down some precarious barricade inside her." 
— Jeff Zentner, The Serpent King, 2016

has this page helped you understand "precarious"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "precarious" without saying "on thin ice" or "contingent."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Something) seems precarious, as though (it's about to fall apart in some way) at any moment."

Example 1: "Layla's perch on the edge of the ottoman seems precarious, as though a slight twitch of her whiskers might swoop her to the floor at any moment."

Example 2: "In the fireworks’ diminishing glow, the tenement houses across the street seemed precarious, as though they would collapse into ruin and rubble at any moment."
— Aden Polydoros, The City Beautiful, 2021

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is the Game of Venery! 

Longtime readers may recognize this game from 2019, when we played with terms from James Lipton's book An Exaltation of Larks. This time, we’ll play with terms from Daniel E. Meyers's online Collective Noun Catalog.

To play, check out the two templates below, and have fun filling them in and sharing your inventions with your family. You can be as lofty, silly, or bawdy as you like. To see the way the terms actually appear in Meyers’s catalog, scroll to the bottom of the issue.

Try these today:

1. an obsolescence of _____

2. a/an _____ of fathers-in-law

review this word:

1. The opposite of PRECARIOUS is

A. DUMB.
B. SECURE.
C. POSTERIOR.

2. In their song "Most Precarious," Blues Traveler describes a decidedly precarious situation: "_____."

A. A bad play where the heroes are right,
And nobody thinks or expects too much,
And Hollywood's calling for the movie rights
Singing, 'Baby, let's keep in touch'

B. The tight wire's strung and you're out in the middle,
All eyes upon you, no net below.
Inches to go and you're almost home free.
Feel the wire swaying to and fro

C. Only then shall I abide this tide
Of catchy little tunes,
Of hip three minute ditties.
I wanna bust all your balloons.
I wanna burn all of your cities to the ground

Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. B Answers to the game questions: Your invented terms of venery can be anything you like! Here are the ones from the catalog: 1. an obsolescence of appliances 2. a harrumph of fathers-in-law And here are mine: 1. an obsolescence of beepers 2. a cherish of fathers-in-law

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.