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Fickle vs Precarious - What's the difference?

fickle | precarious |

As adjectives the difference between fickle and precarious

is that fickle is quick to change one’s opinion or allegiance; insincere; not loyal or reliable while precarious is (comparable) dangerously insecure or unstable; perilous or precarious can be (dentistry) relating to incipient caries.

As a verb fickle

is to deceive; flatter.

fickle

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) fikil, fikil, from (etyl) {{term, ficol, , fickle, cunning, tricky , deceitful, lang=ang}}, equivalent to . More at (l).

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Quick to change one’s opinion or allegiance; insincere; not loyal or reliable.
  • (figurative) changeable
  • * 2014, (Paul Salopek), Blessed. Cursed. Claimed. , National Geographic (December 2014)[http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text]
  • To the south, the vast geometrical deserts of Arabian nomads, a redoubt of feral movement, of fickle winds, of open space, of saddle leather—home to the wild Bedouin tribes.
    Derived terms
    * (l) * (l)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) fikelen, from .

    Verb

    (fickl)
  • To deceive; flatter.
  • To puzzle; perplex; nonplus.
  • precarious

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) , and Spanish and Italian precario.

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (comparable) Dangerously insecure or unstable; perilous.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.}}
  • (legal) Depending on the intention of another.
  • Synonyms

    * (not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over) unsteady, rickety, shaky, tottering, unsafe, unstable, wobbly

    Usage notes

    * Because the (term) element of (term) derives from prex and not the preposition prae, this term cannot — etymologically speaking — be written as *.

    Quotations

    * 1906 , (Jack London), , part I, ch III, *: Never had he been so fond of this body of his as now when his tenure of it was so precarious .

    Derived terms

    * precariously * precariousness * precariat * precarisation, precarization * precarity

    Etymology 2

    pre-'' + ''carious

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (dentistry) Relating to incipient caries.