precarious as an adjective: - 1
- 2
- 3
precarious
adjective
1 precarious
Affording no ease or reassurance:
— A precarious truce.
synonym: unstable.
Roget 111:
transient,
transitory,
transitive;
passing,
evanescent,
fleeting,
cursory,
short-lived,
ephemeral;
flying
etc.
v.;
fugacious,
fugitive;
shifting,
slippery;
spasmodic;
instantaneous,
momentaneous†.
temporal,
temporary;
provisional,
provisory;
deciduous;
perishable,
mortal,
precarious,
unstable,
insecure;
impermanent.
brief,
quick,
brisk,
extemporaneous,
summary;
pressed for time
etc.
(haste)
684;
sudden,
momentary
etc.
(instantaneous)
113.
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Roget 475:
uncertain;
casual;
random
etc.
(aimless)
621;
changeable
etc.
149.
doubtful,
dubious;
indecisive;
unsettled,
undecided,
undetermined;
in suspense,
open to discussion;
controvertible;
in question
etc.
(inquiry)
461.
vague;
indeterminate,
indefinite;
ambiguous,
equivocal;
undefined,
undefinable;
confused
etc.
(indistinct)
447;
mystic,
oracular;
dazed.
perplexing
etc.
v.;
enigmatic,
paradoxical,
apocryphal,
problematical,
hypothetical;
experimental
etc.
463.
unpredictable,
unforeseeable
(unknowable)
519.
fallible,
questionable,
precarious,
slippery,
ticklish,
debatable,
disputable;
unreliable,
untrustworthy.
contingent,
contingent on,
dependent on;
subject to;
dependent on circumstances;
occasional;
provisional.
unauthentic,
unauthenticated,
unauthoritative;
unascertained,
unconfirmed;
undemonstrated;
untold,
uncounted.
in a state of uncertainty,
in a cloud,
in a maze;
bushed,
off the track;
ignorant,
etc.
491;
afraid to say;
out of one's reckoning,
astray,
adrift;
at sea,
at fault,
at a loss,
at one's wit's end,
at a nonplus;
puzzled
etc.
v.;
lost,
abroad,
d_esorient_e;
distracted,
distraught.
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2 precarious
Fraught with danger:
— The precarious life of an undersea diver.
synonyms: parlous, perilous, touch-and-go.
Roget 665:
in danger
etc.
n.;
endangered
etc.
v.;
fraught with danger;
dangerous,
hazardous,
perilous,
parlous,
periculous†;
unsafe,
unprotected
etc.
(safe, protect)
etc.
664;
insecure.
untrustworthy;
built upon. sand,
on a sandy basis;
wildcat.
defenseless,
fenceless,
guardless†,
harborless;
unshielded;
vulnerable,
expugnable†,
exposed;
open to
etc.
(liable)
177.
aux abois [Fr.],
at bay;
on the wrong side of the wall,
on a lee shore,
on the rocks.
at stake,
in question;
precarious,
critical,
ticklish;
slippery,
slippy;
hanging by a thread
etc.
v.;
with a halter round one's neck;
between the hammer and the anvil,
between Scylla and Charybdis,
between a rock and a hard place,
between the devil and the deep blue sea,
between two fires;
on the edge of a precipice,
on the brink of a precipice,
on the verge of a precipice,
on the edge of a volcano;
in the lion's den,
on slippery ground,
under fire;
not out of the wood.
unwarned,
unadmonished,
unadvised,
unprepared
etc.
674;
off one's guard
etc.
(inexpectant)
508†.
tottering;
unstable,
unsteady;
shaky,
top-heavy,
tumbledown,
ramshackle,
crumbling,
waterlogged;
helpless,
guideless†;
in a bad way;
reduced to the last extremity,
at the last extremity;
trembling in the balance;
nodding to its fall
etc.
(destruction)
162.
threatening
etc.
909;
ominous,
illomened;
alarming
etc.
(fear)
860;
explosive.
adventurous
etc.
(rash)
863,
(bold)
861.
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3 precarious
Not secure; beset with difficulties.
synonym: shaky.
Moby thesaurus: ambiguous, borderline, chancy, critical, dangerous, delicate, desultory, dicey, difficult, doubtful, dubious, equivocal, hairy, hazardous, iffy, indecisive, infirm, insecure, insubstantial, on slippery ground, on thin ice, open, perilous, problematic, provisional, questionable, risky, sensitive, shaky, shifting, shifty, slippery, slippy, temporary, tentative, ticklish, touch-and-go, touchy, treacherous, tricky, uncertain, undependable, unfaithworthy, unpredictable, unreliable, unsettled, unsolid, unsound, unstable, unsteadfast, unsteady, unsubstantial, unsure, untrustworthy ... show more.
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