different between precarious vs shaky
precarious
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)
- (comparable) Dangerously insecure or unstable; perilous.
- (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)
- (dentistry) Relating to incipient caries.
precarious From the web:
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shaky
English
Etymology
shake +? -y
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /??e?ki/
- Rhymes: -e?ki
Adjective
shaky (comparative shakier, superlative shakiest)
- Shaking or trembling.
- a shaky spot in a marsh
- a shaky hand
- Nervous, anxious.
- He’s a nice guy but when he talks to me, he acts shaky.
- 2006, Paul A. Grayson, ?Philip W. Meilman, College Mental Health Practice (page 11)
- For the college clinician, restless nights after letting a shaky student walk out of the office are an occupational hazard. Are the student's safety assurances credible? Will he or she make it safely through the weekend?
- (of wood) Full of shakes or cracks; cracked.
- shaky timber
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:shaky.
- Easily shaken; tottering; unsound.
- a shaky constitution
- shaky business credit
- Wavering; undecided.
Synonyms
- (not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over): precarious, rickety, unsteady, tottering, unsafe, unstable, wobbly
Derived terms
- shakiness
- shakycam
Translations
Anagrams
- hayks
shaky From the web:
- what shaky mean
- what shaky hands is a symptom of
- what shaky hands mean
- what shaky legs mean
- what shaky means in spanish
- what's shaky ground
- what is meant by shaky foundation
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