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Serious vs Precarious - What's the difference?

serious | precarious | Related terms |

Serious is a related term of precarious.


As adjectives the difference between serious and precarious

is that serious is without humor or expression of happiness; grave in manner or disposition; earnest; thoughtful; solemn while precarious is (comparable) dangerously insecure or unstable; perilous or precarious can be (dentistry) relating to incipient caries.

serious

English

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Without humor or expression of happiness; grave in manner or disposition; earnest; thoughtful; solemn.
  • It was a surprise to see the captain, who had always seemed so serious , laugh so heartily.
  • Important; weighty; not trifling; leaving no room for play; needing great attention; critical.
  • This is a serious problem. We'll need our best experts.
  • Really intending what is said; being in earnest; not jesting or deceiving; meaningful.
  • After all these years, we're finally getting serious attention.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * trifling, unimportant * (intending what is said) jesting

    Derived terms

    * srs (abbreviation) * dead serious * seriously * seriousness * serious-minded * serious-mindedly * serious-mindedness

    Statistics

    *

    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.