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 Word Forms

• brinkless 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

The children squawked, even more faintly this time, as they drew ever nearer to the brink of doom.

Read more on Literature

Even the scandalous news that her supposedly grieving mother-in-law seemed to be on the brink of remarriage did not force a peep from the precariously balanced Lady Constance.

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Surely there are thousands more on the brink—as yet to be identified.

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Hospice leaders say their organisations are "on the brink of a financial crisis".

Read more on BBC

The sanctions have hit hard in Serbia, which analysts say is on the brink of a winter energy crisis, with the country's lone oil refinery facing a potential shutdown.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• fringe 
• periphery 
• threshold 
• verge