precariousness
State of uncertainty
Precariousness is the quality of being uncertain, unstable, or dangerously insecure.
A job has precariousness when it could end at any moment.
A financial situation has precariousness when collapse seems possible.
The word emphasizes vulnerability—not just that something might fail, but that it exists in a state of constant fragility: the precariousness of life on the streets, the precariousness of democracy in wartime.
Lacking solid foundation
- delicateEasily broken or harmed
- vulnerableOpen to attack
- frailWeak and breakable
- brittleLiable to shatter
breakable · ephemeral · fleeting · transient · perishable · gossamer · wispy · threadbare
Likely to cause injury
- perilousFraught with danger
- dangerousApt to cause harm
- jeopardyRisk of harm
- exposureState of being unprotected
liability · gamble · threat · minefield · tightrope · high-wire · knife-edge · treacherous
State resisting forecasts
- insecurityUncertainty about oneself
- doubtLack of firm belief
- ambiguityOpenness to multiple interpretations
- indeterminacyLack of fixed outcome
questionability · tentativeness · volatility · flux · limbo · suspension · contingency · chance
Unstably balanced, nearly falling
- wobblingMoving unsteadily, wavering
- unsteadyLacking balance or stability
- shakyTrembling or unstable
- totteringMoving unsteadily, nearly falling
swaying · balancing · unstable · rickety · toppling · tilting · wavering · quivering
Out in open
- unprotectedWithout safeguard or shield
- defenselessWithout means to resist
- susceptibleEasily influenced or harmed
- at-riskSubject to potential harm
endangered · threatened · marginal · disadvantaged · disenfranchised · underemployed · hand-to-mouth
tenuous
Lacking solid foundation
- delicateEasily broken or harmed
- vulnerableOpen to attack
- frailWeak and breakable
brittle · breakable · ephemeral · fleeting · transient · perishable · gossamer · wispy · threadbare · flimsy
hazardous
Likely to cause injury
exposure · liability · gamble · threat · minefield · tightrope · high-wire · knife-edge · treacherous · dicey
unpredictability
State resisting forecasts
- insecurityUncertainty about oneself
- doubtLack of firm belief
- ambiguityOpenness to multiple interpretations
indeterminacy · questionability · tentativeness · volatility · flux · limbo · suspension · contingency · chance · speculation
teetering
Unstably balanced, nearly falling
tottering · swaying · balancing · unstable · rickety · toppling · tilting · wavering · quivering · trembling
exposed
Out in open
- unprotectedWithout safeguard or shield
- defenselessWithout means to resist
- susceptibleEasily influenced or harmed
at-risk · endangered · threatened · marginal · disadvantaged · disenfranchised · underemployed · hand-to-mouth
- dangersdanger, peril, hazard, risk, menace
- instabilityinstability, unsteadiness, shakiness, wobbliness, imbalance
- vulnerabilityvulnerability, vulnerable, defenselessness, defenseless, helplessness
- imbalanceimbalance, disequilibrium, disproportion, asymmetry, lopsidedness
- uncertaintyuncertainty, uncertain, unknown, unsure, unclear
- weaknessesweakness, flaw, failing, defect, shortcoming
precariousnesssecurity
Protection from threat
stability · safety · permanence · certainty · firmness
precariousnesssoundness
Reliability of structure
solidity · strength · sturdiness · robustness · substantiality