precarity
/pɹəˈkɛɹɪti/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.58 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Synonym of precariousness (“the state of being uncertain or unstable”); (countable) an instance of this.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "And he recognized then that the crux of his wretchedness had been the fear lest he might not acquit himself of his long indebtedness to Monsieur through yielding him satisfaction in some perfected fruit of his art; of which, in proportion as Monsieur was certain, Gaspard was rendered more miserable through the delay that augmented its precarity."
- "[I]t would have been simpler to maintain the high level of yields by periodical relocations of village field systems and by bringing fresh ground under the plough than to cultivate permanent agricultural bases, labour-intensive, difficult to maintain and risky because of the various precarities of nature (salinization, flooding …)."
- "She looks at him, his round cheeks, his eyelashes, his damp hair. Does the boy sense, already, the precarity of all this?"
- ""Precarity," or precariousness, is an essential element in true voluntary poverty, a saintly French Canadian priest from Martinique has written us. […] Precarity enables us better to help the poor. When a community is always building and enlarging and embellishing, which is good in itself, there is nothing left over for the poor. We have no right to do so as long as there are slums and breadlines anywhere."
- "The individual precarity of persons thus provides a psychology for, a sense of plausibility for, a doctrine of collective precarity, thereby justifying a pseudo-unity under the nation state."
- "So far, we have learned that jobs can be obscure, but also that tasks or "jobs within jobs" can be obscure or made obscure. A phenomenon that catches a general tendency towards obscurity is what [Guy] Standing calls "uptitling" – to give a job a high-sounding epithet to conceal its precarity and, I would say, its substance."
Etymology
From precar(ious) + -ity (suffix forming nouns from adjectives denoting the properties, qualities, or states of the adjectives), probably modelled after French précarité (“precariousness; existence without financial or social security”). Compare New Latin precārietās.
Word Breakdown
- Prefix: precarious
- Root: *preḱ-
- Suffix: -ity
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pɹəˈkɛɹɪti/
- British English: /pɹɪˈkɛəɹɪti/