Word of the Day: precarious

The word precarious has appeared in 413 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Nov. 17 in “Iceland Is in a Holding Pattern as It Awaits a Volcanic Eruption” by Claire Moses:

While the eruption could be big, it is a highly localized event, officials say. Last Saturday, officials evacuated the more than 3,000 residents of Grindavik, a small fishing town about 30 miles south of Reykjavik. Since then, residents have slowly been allowed back to gather some of their personal possessions with help from emergency workers accompanying them.

“It’s a precarious area to be in,” Mr. Viglundsson said.

Daily Word Challenge

Can you correctly use the word precarious in a sentence?

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If you want a better idea of how precarious can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.

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The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.