precariously

[pri-kair-ee-uhs-lee]

adverb

1. in an unstable, uncertain, or insecure way.

   The two archrivals sit precariously balanced at the top of the league, either one likely to fall in the standings at any time.

2. in a way that is dependent on the will of others.

   They live precariously, subject to arrest by immigration authorities, and with taxes withheld from paychecks that they cannot reclaim.

3. in a way that is risky or dangerous; perilously.

   He steadies the canoe as his son stands precariously in the bow, aiming his spear toward the river.

Other Word Forms

• superprecariously adverb
• unprecariously adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of precariously¹

precarious ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

Pans are precariously placed on a hob and she is stirring away.

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Yet, for all their economic importance, Nepali migrants in India often live precariously.

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Joe Root and Harry Brook make centuries but bad light and late wickets sees the fifth Test head into a final day with it hanging precariously in the balance.

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In Project Coldfeet, CIA agents gathering intelligence on a Soviet station erected on a precariously drifting sheet of ice in the Arctic needed a reliable extraction plan.

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We pass rotting beams propped up precariously by stacked breeze blocks.

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Related Words

• alarmingly www.thesaurus.com
• critically 
• desperately 
• perilously 
• recklessly 
• seriously 
• severely