Precarious vs Predicament - What's the difference?
precarious | predicament |
(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.
(dentistry) Relating to incipient caries.
A definite class, state or condition.
An unfortunate or trying position or condition; a tight spot.
* {{quote-book
, year=1978
, author=
, title=The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism
, page=xv (20th edition)
, passage=Culture, for me, is the effort to provide a coherent set of answers to the existential predicaments that confront all human beings in the passage of their life.}}
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=December 10
, author=Marc Higginson
, title=Bolton 1 - 2 Aston Villa
, work=BBC Sport
(logic) That which is predicated; a category.
In lang=en terms the difference between precarious and predicament
is that precarious is depending on the intention of another while predicament is that which is predicated; a category.As an adjective precarious
is dangerously insecure or unstable; perilous.As a noun predicament is
a definite class, state or condition.precarious
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) , and Spanish and Italian precario.Adjective
(en adjective)Synonyms
* (not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over) unsteady, rickety, shaky, tottering, unsafe, unstable, wobblyUsage 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 * precarityExternal links
* *Etymology 2
pre-'' + ''cariousAdjective
(-)predicament
English
Alternative forms
* (chiefly obsolete)Noun
(en noun)citation, page= , passage=The Midlanders will hope the victory will kickstart a campaign that looked to have hit the buffers, but the sense of trepidation enveloping the Reebok Stadium heading into the new year underlines the seriousness of the predicament facing Owen Coyle's men.}}