precarious
英 [pr?'ke?r??s]
美[pr?'k?r?r??s]
- adj. 危險(xiǎn)的；不確定的
CET6+TEM8IELTSGRETOEFL低頻詞擴(kuò)展詞匯
詞態(tài)變化
比較級(jí):?more precarious;最高級(jí):?most precarious;副詞:?precariously;名詞:?precariousness;
助記提示
1. prex (genitive precis) "entreaty, prayer" (see pray) => precarious.
2. Notion of "dependent on the will of another" led to extended sense "risky, dangerous, uncertain".
2. Notion of "dependent on the will of another" led to extended sense "risky, dangerous, uncertain".
中文詞源
precarious 不穩(wěn)的，危險(xiǎn)的
來(lái)自拉丁語(yǔ)precarius,乞求，懇求，乞憐而得，來(lái)自拉丁語(yǔ)precari,乞求，要求，懇求，來(lái)自PIE*prek,要求，懇求，詞源同deprecate,pray.引申詞義寄人籬下的，依附于人的，不穩(wěn)的，危險(xiǎn)的等。
英文詞源
- precarious
- precarious: [17] Precarious comes from Latin precārius (source also of English prayer), which meant ‘obtained by asking or praying’. It was originally used in English as a legal term, in which ‘obtained by asking’ had undergone a slight change in focus to ‘held through the favour of another’. This introduced the notion that the favour might be withdrawn, and that the possession was therefore uncertain, and so the adjective soon came to be used for ‘depending on chance or caprice’ and, in the 18th century, ‘risky’.
Latin precārius was derived from prex ‘prayer’, a close relative of precārī ‘a(chǎn)sk, entreat, pray’, from which English gets pray.
=> pray - precarious (adj.)
- 1640s, a legal word, "held through the favor of another," from Latin precarius "obtained by asking or praying," from prex (genitive precis) "entreaty, prayer" (see pray). Notion of "dependent on the will of another" led to extended sense "risky, dangerous, uncertain" (1680s). "No word is more unskillfully used than this with its derivatives. It is used for uncertain in all its senses; but it only means uncertain, as dependent on others ..." [Johnson]. Related: Precariously; precariousness.
雙語(yǔ)例句
- 1. They looked rather comical as they crawled up precarious ladders.
- 他們順著搖搖晃晃的梯子往上爬，看起來(lái)非?；?/dd>
來(lái)自柯林斯例句
- 2. He earned a precarious living as an artist.
- 作為一個(gè)藝術(shù)家，他過(guò)的是朝不保夕的生活。
來(lái)自《權(quán)威詞典》
- 3. They eke out a precarious existence foraging in rubbish dumps.
- 他們靠在垃圾場(chǎng)撿垃圾維持著朝不保夕的生活.
來(lái)自《簡(jiǎn)明英漢詞典》
- 4. A soldier leads a very precarious life.
- 軍人過(guò)著非常危險(xiǎn)的生活.
來(lái)自《簡(jiǎn)明英漢詞典》
- 5. Washington struck me as a precarious place from which to publish such a cerebral newspaper.
- 我的感覺(jué)是，在華盛頓出版這樣一份理性的報(bào)紙不是太靠譜。
來(lái)自柯林斯例句