different between precarious vs doubtful

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p???k???i.?s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /p???k??i.?s/
• Rhymes: -???i?s
• Hyphenation: pre?ca?ri?ous

Etymology 1

From Latin prec?rius (“begged for, obtained by entreaty”), from prex, precis (“prayer”). Compare French précaire, Portuguese precário, and Spanish and Italian precario.

Adjective

precarious (comparative more precarious, superlative most precarious)

1. (comparable) Dangerously insecure or unstable; perilous.
2. (law) Depending on the intention of another.

Usage notes

Because the pre- element of precarious derives from prex and not the preposition prae, this term cannot — etymologically speaking — be written as *præcarious.

Quotations

• 1906, Jack London, White Fang, 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.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

Related terms

• pray

Translations

Further reading

• precarious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• precarious in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Precarious in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Etymology 2

pre- + carious

Adjective

precarious (not comparable)

1. (dentistry) Relating to incipient caries.

English

Alternative forms

• doubtfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English doutfull, douteful, equivalent to doubt +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?da?tf?l/
• Hyphenation: doubt?ful

Adjective

doubtful (comparative more doubtful, superlative most doubtful)

1. Subject to, or causing doubt.
2. Experiencing or showing doubt, sceptical.
3. Undecided or of uncertain outcome.
4. (obsolete) Fearsome, dreadful.
5. Improbable or unlikely.
6. Suspicious, or of dubious character.
7. Unclear or unreliable.

Derived terms

• doubtfully
• doubtfulness

Translations

Noun

doubtful (plural doubtfuls)

1. A doubtful person or thing.
   • 1976, Kenneth Gibbons, Donald Cameron Rowat, Political Corruption in Canada: Cases, Causes and Cures (page 45)

     They had their lists of Liberals and of the doubtfuls who still remained doubtful. As the election drew near, the force of the whole organization was turned upon these unrepentant doubtfuls.