precarious : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: precarious	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for precarious
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
precarious adj affording no ease or reassurance; "a precarious truce" Synonym(s): precarious, unstable fraught with danger; "dangerous waters"; "a parlous journey on stormy seas"; "a perilous voyage across the Atlantic in a small boat"; "the precarious life of an undersea diver"; "dangerous surgery followed by a touch-and-go recovery" Synonym(s): parlous, perilous, precarious, touch-and-go not secure; beset with difficulties; "a shaky marriage" Synonym(s): precarious, shaky
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Precarious \Preca"rious\, a. [L. precarius obtained by begging or prayer, depending on request or on the will of another, fr. precari to pray, beg. See {Pray}.] 1. Depending on the will or pleasure of another; held by courtesy; liable to be changed or lost at the pleasure of another; as, precarious privileges. --Addison. 2. Held by a doubtful tenure; depending on unknown causes or events; exposed to constant risk; not to be depended on for certainty or stability; uncertain; as, a precarious state of health; precarious fortunes. [bd]Intervals of partial and precarious liberty.[b8] --Macaulay. Syn: Uncertain; unsettled; unsteady; doubtful; dubious; equivocal. Usage: {Precarious}, {Uncertain}. Precarious in stronger than uncertain. Derived originally from the Latin precari, it first signified [bd]granted to entreaty,[b8] and, hence, [bd]wholly dependent on the will of another.[b8] Thus it came to express the highest species of uncertainty, and is applied to such things as depend wholly on future casualties. -- {Preca"riously}, adv. -- {Preca"riousness}, n.