Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The state or character of being precarious; uncertainty; dependence on the will or pleasure of others, or on unknown events: as, the precariousness of life or health.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A state of being
uncertain orunstable .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun extreme dangerousness
- noun being unsettled or in doubt or dependent on chance
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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And yet I have been at pains not to conceal the facts that those things I have instanced have a certain precariousness of tenure.
Change Or Decay 1933
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In a speech delivered on the tarmac, Benedict referred to the precariousness many young people see in their future.
The Seattle Times 2011
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M'Iver, who was the first to take watch for the night, paced back and forth along the lobbies or stood to warm himself at the fire he fed at intervals with peat or pine-root Though he had a soldier's reverence for the slumbers of his comrades, and made the least of noises as he moved around in his deer-skins, the slightest movement so advertised his zeal, and so clearly recalled the precariousness of our position, that I could not sleep.
John Splendid The Tale of a Poor Gentleman, and the Little Wars of Lorn Neil Munro
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You've clearly beaten precarité ( "precariousness") once and for all!
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Which is shelter from competition, the tax man and most of all, "precariousness" of any kind.
Berlusconi Is Back 2008
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The precariousness of these ladders is evident in that they need to be replaced every 10-12 weeks due to structural damage from the intense humidity and dampness.
Linda Constant: Thirsty in Tanzania: Africa's Infrastructure Challenge of Climate Change and Development Linda Constant 2011
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I shook my head and listened again to Tom, who was now holding forth on my financial precariousness—meaning my unusual penniless royal mistress, yet unmarried, state.
Exit the Actress Priya Parmar 2011
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Suddenly they've got the precariousness of creatives, of the underclass, without that gleeful experience of decades spent living-it-up.
January 2009 2009
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The precariousness of these ladders is evident in that they need to be replaced every 10-12 weeks due to structural damage from the intense humidity and dampness.
Linda Constant: Thirsty in Tanzania: Africa's Infrastructure Challenge of Climate Change and Development Linda Constant 2011
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The precariousness of these ladders is evident in that they need to be replaced every 10-12 weeks due to structural damage from the intense humidity and dampness.
Linda Constant: Thirsty in Tanzania: Africa's Infrastructure Challenge of Climate Change and Development Linda Constant 2011
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