precarious

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 17, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>precarious</strong> &#149; \prih-KAIR-ee-us\&nbsp; &#149; <em>adjective</em><br /> <p><em>Precarious</em> means "characterized by uncertainty, insecurity, or instability that threatens with danger."</p> <p>// College debt leaves many students in a <em>precarious</em> financial situation after graduation.</p> <p>// The books were stacked high in a <em>precarious</em> tower.</p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/precarious">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"Staff may be anxious about returning to the office and want to be assured of their safety while leaders are in the <em>precarious</em> position of having to make what they think is the right call." — Bernard Coleman, <em>Inc.</em>, 18 Aug. 2021</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>"This little happiness is so very precarious, that it wholly depends on the will of others." Joseph Addison, in a 1711 issue of <em>Spectator</em> magazine, couldn't have described the oldest sense of <em>precarious</em> more precisely—the original meaning of the word was "depending on the will or pleasure of another." <em>Precarious</em> comes from a Latin word meaning "obtained by entreaty," which itself is from the word for prayer, <em>prex</em>.</p> <br /><br /> </p> </font>