How To Use Precarious In A Sentence

He balanced precariously on the narrow window - ledge.
They eke out a precarious existence .
The economy is precariously close to recession.
China's economy is precariously balanced on a mountain of debt. Times, Sunday Times
The carriage teetered precariously as he moved to take a seat opposite her and they stared at each other in a calming silence as she drank, but once she finished, the cup fell from her loose fingers and clattered loudly on the floor.

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However, a closer look at the tissue of the dream reveals the most precarious of balances between the concerns of the individual and those of the family and community.
A dead leaf balanced precariously on the knuckles, twitching in the breeze.
Although many trees have been removed from homes and businesses, others remain precariously poised to fall. Harsh winter predictions
The museum is in a financially precarious position.
To repair any damage Rhoda has done to her already precarious identity as a good little girl, Rhoda initiates a game that she and her mother have obviously played before.
The first carries the dual carriageway A4041 with a street light balanced precariously above the centre of the canal.
But Mr. Mubarak's language and refusal to yield to what he called the intervention of foreigners left protesters furious, the scene in Cairo precarious and the White House seemingly unable to influence events. Crisis Puts White House in Disarray
They sit precariously on top of one another on a square of unpainted plywood around which are scattered little metal balls of varying sizes.
As it sways precariously beneath the five-tonner, a small priesthood of caretakers will guide it to a washbasin and gently remove the ravages of worship and travel. Roy and His Rock
The train is not only faster and cleaner, but with an operating sound output of 0.1dB, is also significantly quieter than buses or the precarious three wheeled tuk-tuks.
This year's Budget looks set to be a precarious high-wire act for the Chancellor.
Pierced by curves and angles of thin metal, the precarious, canted structure is poised on elegant little wheels. The Artist in All His Dimensions
47 The image of the child in utero as fruit hanging precariously from a tree extended back to Galen, as Constantinus believed. 48 While Aldobrandino's passage and metaphor attributed a considerable amount of agency to the fruit-fetus (note the active voice), most discussions of fetal growth and parturition portrayed the fetus as entirely passive. A Tender Age: Cultural Anxieties over the Child in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
In the novel, a decent man, having made a "devil's bargain," finds himself on that precarious border between personal love and social responsibility.
A dead leaf balanced precariously on the knuckles, twitching in the breeze.
The soil of these plains was a stiff tenacious clay, and had every appearance of being frequently under water: as we were now in the parallel of the spot where the river divided into branches, the altered appearance of the country induced us to hope that we should shortly fall in with some permanent water, and be relieved from the constant anxiety attendant on the precarious supply to which we had lately been enured. Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales
On the level of form, you share mortality and the precariousness of existence.
Durham's recent experience has brought home the reality of the precarious situation around the first-class game. Times, Sunday Times
The path down to the beach is very precarious in wet weather.
Without a political settlement any truce in Bosnia remains precarious.
What a precarious existence we have had as a nation! Times, Sunday Times
A pink pillar-box hat was perched precariously on her head, and pinned to its side was a large artificial purple flower.
Another is a close-up of a mud-encrusted hand reaching back toward a worker at the top of a precarious twig ladder.
But with 29 low-rent housing units above them, they would need to evict individuals already in precarious financial situations in order to expand.
Becoming Speaker of the House of Commons is happily no longer so precarious, but it certainly has its difficulties.
In the end, due to the meagerness of both our resources and our carpentry skills, we settled on a balance constructed of wood and a precariously balanced wire hanger.
Yet, in the absence of the traditional ruling magnates to supervise border rule and defence, the region's precarious peace dissolved into feuds and reiving.
The demarcation is clear: Heumann doesn't allow the two modes to blur together; he deliberately counterpoises one against the other in precarious, hypnotic equilibrium.
She is a sad, lonely career girl whose financial precariousness makes her a highly suggestible young lady who will clearly do almost anything for a sawbuck.
The economic precariousness forced a substantial number of men to leave for distant lands as migrant workers.
We spotted an old man precariously perched on top of a pile of rubble, searching for something.
According to photographer and friend of Irons, Art Brewer, the surf industry is unique not because of the presence of drugs, but because it is in the precarious process of distancing itself from a stereotypical drugged-out image. Tetsuhiko Endo: Demystifying the Death of Andy Irons
Now, Lackaday in his manuscript relates this English episode, not so much as an appeal to pity for the straits to which he was reduced, although he winces at its precarious mountebankery, and his sensitive and respectable soul revolts at going round with the mendicant's hat and thanking old women and children for pennies, as in order to correlate certain influences and coincidences in his career. The Mountebank
The hunter-gatherer lifestyle today survives precariously in remote regions.
The stage resembled an oblong squash court with seating perched precariously on scaffolding above the set.
A few survivors, precariously perched on sill-less windows, survey their double bind looking for perspective and vanishing points, a place to tip themselves over the edge in hopes defatigable winging. Kamikaze Birdsongs
Half the cast dangle above the stage on ropes or perch precariously on a bamboo scaffold that forms the skeleton of the set. Times, Sunday Times
The stage is set up with various precarious devices, boxes and hanging sheets. Times, Sunday Times
And their future looks more precarious when the troops go home. Times, Sunday Times
A stable and balanced agrarian economy had degenerated into precarious monocultures and backwater towns.
Turkey is quite precarious anyway,' she says. Times, Sunday Times
Which is shelter from competition, the tax man and most of all, "precariousness" of any kind. Berlusconi Is Back
The pockets of the farmers, on the other hand, will reluctantly yield but scanty supplies, in the unwelcome shape of impositions on their houses and lands; and personal property is too precarious and invisible a fund to be laid hold of in any other way than by the imperceptible agency of taxes on consumption.
We can see clearly the essence of despotism and the precarious nature of democracy.
Barbie wore only her clear pink heels, her defiance untempered by her precarious stance on a white Lexus convertible. Bye-bye Love
The sea sighs at the feet of the cliffs where fulmars and kittiwakes are sitting hopefully on nests precariously wedged into the narrowest of crevices. Times, Sunday Times
My upper body wavered precariously and my eyes watered as I caught sight of the drop below.
The villagers cook on open fires with precariously balanced pots, which result in many scalds and burns.
At right, on a crumpled white cloth, a collection of kitchen implements is painstakingly composed—a tilted ladle, a gleaming jug, shiny copper cooking vessels and a favorite trompe l'oeil conceit of a knife on a diagonal that edges precariously into our space. A Monumental Moment
Labour backbenchers precariously hanging on to marginal seats began to stir.
Black vultures choose less precarious rocky perches on which to nest but join the lammergeiers on the thermals in their quest for food.
From there a path twists its way through outcropping crags and tiny lochans to the summit, perched precariously on top of its own little crag.
But only in that precarious exilic realm can one first truly grasp the difficulty of what cannot be grasped, and then go forth to try anyway.
But to the population in these areas it will feel increasingly precarious,' she said. Times, Sunday Times
Flying into this Himalayan Shangri-La, I was immediately struck by the world's highest unclimbed mountain, the exquisite temples perched precariously on cliffs, the friendly and handsome people adorned in traditional silk attire, and a healthy dose of wafting incense and chanting mantras. Chip Conley: The Happiest Place on the Planet?
They hauled the fish on board - this time I was up on the cabin top filming - a somewhat precarious perch as a stiff wind had sprung up and the boat was rocking quite wildly.
And he explained her precarious situation too, that she was envied and spied on because her brother was fond of her and that many considered her tainted with her mother's promiscuousness and conniving, hoped to use that to make her father reject her. Ill Met By Moonlight
Anything out of the ordinary could arouse her from her precarious slumber.
Somewhere, enormous losses have been suffered, with recent mark-to-market declines in Credit derivatives seriously compounding an already precarious situation.
Half the cast dangle above the stage on ropes or perch precariously on a bamboo scaffold that forms the skeleton of the set. Times, Sunday Times
They were always careful not to saw away the branch upon which their own livelihood was precariously, if tenaciously, hanging.
The getaway by bus goes smoothly until an accident sends the vehicle into a skid, leaving it dangling precariously over the edge of a cliff. Times, Sunday Times
Today – as it was generations ago – tuxedoed waiters flit around tables, precariously balancing countless Viennese coffee varieties and trademark yeast dumplings on silver trays. Leopold Hawelka, luminary of Viennese cafe culture, dies aged 100
Meditation for a leap into the unknown At great turning points, life quivers precariously on the tightrope of obedience.
He balanced the glass precariously on the arm of his chair.
The teenager and his ageing parents grow a small amount of rice but depend almost entirely on two buffaloes to maintain their precarious existence.
One of my grocery bags was still precariously perched on the car bumper.
This precarious financial position is largely because footballers are the most successful workers in the land. Times, Sunday Times
She teetered precariously before moving once again to position her feet solidly on the ground.
In fact, much of the album was pieced together on a laptop perched precariously on packing boxes. Times, Sunday Times
But his grasp on life was precarious and my mother's quality of life as a full-time carer was practically nonexistent. Times, Sunday Times
The guys tapped on their heels, balanced precariously and even attempted a few body flips.
A sharp rise in contractual obligations could, de facto, wipe out his precarious autonomy.
But life here is precarious and has been for as long as anyone can remember. Times, Sunday Times
Some of these projects were killed by a company's precarious financial standing or poor prevailing economic conditions. Times, Sunday Times
What a precarious existence we have had as a nation! Times, Sunday Times
Its financial position has been precarious and the recent sale of land for house building was essential to survive. Times, Sunday Times
You may see stiff-winged fulmars gliding effortlessly, or hear them cackling as they sit precariously on ledges incubating single eggs.
Except for brief and precarious interludes, there has never been peace in the world; and before history began, murderous strife was universal and unending.
On the other hand the present situation is precarious. Paul VI - The First Modern Pope
For the next six years I learned to live the way the rest of the world lives, on credit and a precariously balanced checkbook.
She had passed through the Empire, she had lived through a siege, had rubbed shoulders with the Commune, had seen everything, no doubt, of what men are capable in the pursuit of their desires or in the extremity of their distress, for love, for money, and even for honour; and in her precarious connection with the very highest spheres she had kept her own honourability unscathed while she had lost all her prejudices. The Arrow of Gold : A Story Between Two Notes
The Royal Scots, the army's oldest regiment, is on precarious ground.
The neighbourhood is looking particularly precarious as summer approaches. Times, Sunday Times
I like my chips open or wrapped, with a crisp wedge of battered cod perched precariously on top.
It gives the band an ability to loose the reigns and do something that precariously walks the line between excitement and embarrassment.
Dressed simply in brown unitards, they brought a workmanlike tenacity to their precarious endeavors.
They made their way over, wavering precariously, and collapsed at his feet.
She leaned precariously out of the window.
But quite a few clubs are in a precarious position. The Sun
The land is let on lease for terms as long sometimes as sixty-four years, and is sometimes underlet at greatly increased prices to the ultimate tenants, whose precarious condition brings the "head" landlord into undeserved odium. Disturbed Ireland Being the Letters Written During the Winter of 1880-81.
There's also a stonking good sword fight, in which furniture gets overturned, weapons are scooped up on the fly and the combatants find themselves thrusting and parrying while perched precariously up in the rafters.
Mary Mara makes the volatile Ruth a mainspring of precarious tension, capable of a solitary three-way argument over a peanut-butter sandwich.
Unions have complained that some workers have been forced to become self-employed to accept precarious jobs on low pay. Times, Sunday Times
At that point WPC Norton was perched precariously on a rickety chair in an attempt to inspect the top of the wardrobe. WIDOW'S END
Salcedo was interested in the precarious nature of the materials, the fragility of the hair.
Even if programmatically attractive, this is a precariously fragile hypothesis.
The game opened up and the home side 's superiority shone through against a club in a precarious league position. Times, Sunday Times
Assyria's decline -- the change whereby she passed from the assailer to the assailed, from the undisputed primacy of Western Asia to a doubtful and precarious position. The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 2. (of 7): Assyria The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.
But now they have gone out on such precarious limbs their positions are clearly untenable.
What a precarious existence we have had as a nation! Times, Sunday Times
We find intelligence and life spooky because they maintain a precarious state far from equilibrium.
You remember how precarious the company was after your father and grandfather died.
I felt sure the gum on the precarious trap would catch the mouse tonight.
The suits are elegant, the hair high and the décolletages so precariously low that you know there's been a run on double-sided tape.
It is an acrobatics of raw and precarious sprezzatura. The Times Literary Supplement
Shooting out lights, opening and closing doors and leaping to precarious positions are all part of the game.
Together, they have scaled the stony scramble of Stirrup Crag at Yewbarrow, hit the heights of Helvellyn twice and negotiated the precarious pathway of Striding Edge.
Wells was well aware of the precariousness of human life.
In view of our precarious position and the lives of men in jeopardy, I sent this evening an aerogram to H.M. King George asking for a relief ship. South: the story of Shackleton’s last expedition 1914–1917
It's an island where isolated villages cling precariously to crags, wild boar snuffle for food and bees grow drunk on the nectar from the maquis - the fragrant scrub that cloaks the island's ancient bones.
The film captures the precariousness of an addict's sobriety.
Her suitcase was precariously balanced on the tiny luggage rack above her head.
The tide is going out and there are plenty of rocks to turn over, and after only 10 minutes, the youngest, precariously balanced on a boulder near the jetty, calls us over excitedly. Diary of a separation
And as a result, he doesn't squander the talents of his cast, throwing in plenty of personality clashes and in-house stand-offs that serve to heighten the precarious nature of Roenick's predicament.
His mind had been suppled by years of precarious survival; now it took one of those leaps which had saved him in places tighter than this. Funeral Games
A dead leaf balanced precariously on the knuckles, twitching in the breeze.
What the optimists sometimes ignore is the often precarious role of technology in keeping humanity fed. Times, Sunday Times
Ice Cube is precariously balanced between entertainment and polemic.
As he travels to Mount Doom with the hobbits, Sam and Frodo, their relationship becomes more precarious.
There were even curraghs, composed of ox hides stretched over hoops of willow, in the manner of the ancient British, and some committed themselves to rafts formed for the occasion, from the readiest materials that occurred, and united in such a precarious manner as to render it probable that, before the accomplishment of the voyage, some of the clansmen of the deceased might be sent to attend their chieftain in the world of spirits. The Fair Maid of Perth
Outside, before each room, a tin fireplace for cooking precariously bestrided the veranda rail. Zone Policeman 88; a close range study of the Panama canal and its workers
The shoulder can be put into a precarious position during the recovery and entry periods of the crawl and butterfly strokes.
She is clutching at the grass, precariously hanging over the cliff and screaming as crumbling rocks fall to the water below.
When I am walking in a crowded room, especially while carrying a spillable object in my hands balanced above other precariously situated object, and some rude motherchicken decides to bump into me, spill my long-anticipated tasty lunch on the ground, and then continue on his bumbling way, I should be able to sentence that person to eternal damnation. Bluemeany Diary Entry
Despite the precarious position of the oil market, financial markets remain extraordinarily sanguine in regard to the prospects of another major oil shock.
In Congress, the word sidecar doesn't call up images of a one-wheeled device precariously attached to a motorcycle — but it's a risky vehicle all the same. A Bumpy Ride
She had six children from her first marriage when widowed, and made a precarious living as a travelling saleswoman.
He earned a precarious living as an artist.
With that high center of gravity you're twice as likely as some putz in a Pontiac to tip precariously onto two wheels.
The treaty was now dead and Britain's influence became more precarious though it persisted for another decade. The Collins History of the World in the 20th Century
A gripping and ultimately enduring release borne of a timeless song craft and precariously married to a deeply maddening anxious hurt.
Thousands of rare Australian animals, such as endangered numbats and long-nosed potoroos, face a precarious future as a company set up to ensure their survival faces extinction itself.
I would think too of that other war which is as old as mankind, and is indeed the life of man: the unsparing war, the grinding slavery of competition; the toil of seventy years, dear-bought bread, precarious honour, the perils and pitfalls, and the poor rewards. Memories and Portraits
Mr. Mubarak's language and refusal to yield to what he called the intervention of foreigners — a reference that appeared directed primarily at the U.S. — left protesters furious and the situation in Cairo precarious. Mubarak Deepens Crisis
And though it is true that every age considers the world to be in a precarious state, at the very edge of dark, nevertheless Ada and Inman doubted if at any foretime in history the sense of an ending was as justified as it had been then. Cold Mountain
The situation was becoming increasingly precarious. Times, Sunday Times
And Jennifer Klein, professor of history at Yale University, adds that women often work in "precarious" jobs with irregular hours and low benefits. Bryce Covert: The Other Side of the 'Mancession': Women Left Behind
The other men had come and hastily put a roof on, but the cabin as a whole reminded Roger of nothing so much as a pile of giant jackstraws, poised precariously on the side of the mountain and obviously only awaiting the next spring flood to slide down the mountain after its builder. A Breath of Snow and Ashes
The suits are elegant, the hair high and the décolletages so precariously low that you know there's been a run on double-sided tape.
This year's Budget looks set to be a precarious high-wire act for the Chancellor.
If that is where you are this morning, your position is very precarious.
The drawbridge was the precarious ground of many a midnight strife, till the daring gallantry of Nigel Bruce became the theme of every tongue; a gallantry equalled only by the consummate skill which he displayed, in retreating within his entrenchments frequently without the loss of a single man either as killed or wounded. The Days of Bruce Vol 1 A Story from Scottish History
Washington struck me as a precarious place from which to publish such a cerebral newspaper.
M'Iver, who was the first to take watch for the night, paced back and forth along the lobbies or stood to warm himself at the fire he fed at intervals with peat or pine-root Though he had a soldier's reverence for the slumbers of his comrades, and made the least of noises as he moved around in his deer-skins, the slightest movement so advertised his zeal, and so clearly recalled the precariousness of our position, that I could not sleep. John Splendid The Tale of a Poor Gentleman, and the Little Wars of Lorn
The repetition of the word century, instead of evoking diachrony, only further betrays the precarious instantaneity of the utterance, its vocalic ephemerality.
I walked on the other side, feeling the precariousness of the road.
She makes a rather precarious living as a novelist.
The precariousness of human life is expressed through the recurrent motif of being lost at sea.
This, most regrettably, has gone much beyond a precarious domestic Credit scheme and a foray into inconvertible currencies.
Precarious-sounding, perhaps, but better than overreliance on overblown institutions. Times, Sunday Times
We learned about their precarious existence with nature and their love of the sea.
The situation is precarious but can be rescued. Times, Sunday Times
It becomes slightly more precarious, as if you were trying to do a movie. Times, Sunday Times
Shameless polyandrist, she maintains several consorts -- from three to five seems to be the average number -- and they, semi-transparent, feeble, meek, subdued little fellows, maintain precarious isolated existences in the outskirts of the web. Tropic Days
The situation of anarchy, of institutionalised violence, and of insecurity contributes to worsening the already precarious situation for the people.
Two painkillers and some cold water later, she made her shaky way down the precarious steps into the living room.
Billy pulled his gun out of the holster on his belt and stepped precariously into the farmhouse.
Many cities were said to be turning into ghost towns, with some five to seven million people living precariously on the breadline, scratching out an existence from one day to the next.
Turkey is quite precarious anyway,' she says. Times, Sunday Times
Parts of both have survived into the 21st century, but their continued existence is precarious.
She watched in the rearview mirror as he fell from his precarious standing position on the trunk to crumple into the back seat.
Wahid, at the head of an unstable multi-party coalition, is attempting a precarious political balancing act.
The stage is set up with various precarious devices, boxes and hanging sheets. Times, Sunday Times
The hotel was perched precariously on a steep hillside.
They were sprawled nonchalantly, legs akimbo, across the precarious rock pathway that led to my jumping-off point.
But the separation had come too late for the Audi, which was now balanced precariously with only two wheels still on the ground. THE DEVIL'S DOOR
They seem, nonetheless, to be anointed at this precarious juncture in the church's history to offer the leadership and vision so wanting in many episcopal and presbyteral circles.
The quality of jobs changed dramatically in the way that we have what we call 'precarious employment' in Germany," he says. NPR Topics: News
A lone figure swung precariously from the side of a sky-scraping tower, painfully inching his way up a rope. 365 tomorrows » 2009 » November : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
He took the seat, delicately perching himself on the rather precarious space.
Those who read the prospectus for the company had no doubt about its potentially precarious nature. Times, Sunday Times
Furthermore, he was precariously balanced and might fall.
The break was a long gulley, and the road climbed precariously and steeply along its edge.
A soldier leads a very precarious life.
As Finance Secretary I found that the finances of the state were in a precarious condition.
The financial concessions granted to British Aerospace were, he said, of a precarious character.
An angel was balancing precariously on top of the Christmas tree.
That unity looks more precarious than ever today, when the country's governing coalition has as its linchpin a regionalist northern party that boycotted the 150th-anniversary celebrations earlier this year. In Search of Happily Ever After
Many live in precarious shacks and suffer under miserable conditions.
A 1989 census found that 23 percent of the urban population lives in precarious and illegally built shacks in bidonvilles, or in somewhat better but substandard housing built without permit on unserviced land.
As a soldier learns more in a week of war than in years of parades and pipeclay, so, cut off from all distractions, moving from bivouac to precarious bivouac, and depending, to some extent, for my life on my muscles and wits, I rapidly learnt my work and gained a certain dexterity. The Riddle of the Sands
The lighting setup was four ceiling lights (two warm white incandescent and two daylight energy saving) with one fluorescent desk lamp for right-side illumination and a large halogen standing lamp (titled precariously and propped up by random furniture) at 45 deg which was the illumination source from the left and also the brightest of the lot. Anime Nano!
But to the population in these areas it will feel increasingly precarious,' she said. Times, Sunday Times
I am a member of a entire subclass of not-so-young-anymore men, living in large cities, who are precariously close to being worrisome bachelors, problem sons, borderline lost causes.
I resolve to take out the trash in a timely manner rather than continue piling things precariously on top of an already overstuffed trash bin.
The ground rose about the chungke-yard like the walls of an amphitheatre, on every side save the slope toward the "beloved square" and the river, furnishing an ideal position of vantage for spectators were they even more numerous than the hundreds of Cherokees of all ages that had gathered on the steep acclivities to overlook the game -- some ranged on the terrace or turfy ridge around the chungke-yard, formed by the earth thrown out when the depressed area was delved down long ago, others disposed beneath the spreading trees, others still, precariously perched on clifty promontories beetling out from the sharp ascent. The Frontiersmen
It was a very precarious life. Lost Voices of the Edwardians: 19011910 in the words of the Men & Women Who Were There
The area where they are located is precarious because the ravine is a main watercourse.
The teenager and his ageing parents grow a small amount of rice but depend almost entirely on two buffaloes to maintain their precarious existence.
The release of the individual from accountability lays a precarious basis for a new democratic political culture.
In fact, much of the album was pieced together on a laptop perched precariously on packing boxes. Times, Sunday Times
Despite the precariousness of the situation, the rescue went off flawlessly.
If life in politics is precarious, it seems to be particularly perilous for those who are close to him.
They are related to similarly proportioned glassware made in the 1890s, but the delicate tints and precarious attenuation are markers of preciosity and refinement.

How To Use Precarious In A Sentence

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