brink

[ bringk ]

noun

1. the edge or margin of a steep place or of land bordering water.
2. any extreme edge; verge.
3. a crucial or critical point, especially of a situation or state beyond which success or catastrophe occurs:

   We were on the brink of war.

brink

/ brɪŋk /

noun

1. the edge, border, or verge of a steep place

   the brink of the precipice

2. the highest point; top

   the sun fell below the brink of the hill

3. the land at the edge of a body of water
4. the verge of an event or state

   the brink of disaster

Other Words From

• brinkless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of brink¹

1250–1300; Middle English brink < Old Norse ( Danish ) brink, cognate with MLG brink edge, hillside, Old Norse brekka slope, hill

Word History and Origins

Origin of brink¹

C13: from Middle Dutch brinc , of Germanic origin; compare Old Norse brekka slope, Middle Low German brink edge of a field

Example Sentences

She was sexually and verbally abused, leading her to the brink of suicide.

From The Daily Beast

Emergent procedures provide their benefit right away and have the awesome potential to rescue a patient from the brink of death.

From The Daily Beast

It is conceivable, if highly unlikely, that most Palestinians will try to pull back from the brink.

From The Daily Beast

Meanwhile, their Missouri hometown appears to be on the brink of chaos.

From The Daily Beast

But things were once a lot closer to the brink than most people knew.

From The Daily Beast

I swung down from my horse on the brink of the creek, cinched the saddle afresh, and rolled a cigarette.

From Project Gutenberg

It was a hippopotamus which had been standing on the river-brink within six yards of the muzzle of his gun.

From Project Gutenberg

He sees no longer the brink of the abyss beside which the path of progress picks its painful way.

From Project Gutenberg

And presently we galloped across a mile or two of level grassland and pulled up on the very brink of Sage Creek canyon.

From Project Gutenberg

On the opposite side of the stream, set back about thirty paces from the brink, stood a granite boulder.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• fringe
• periphery
• threshold
• verge