precarity

noun

pre·​car·​i·​ty pri-ˈker-ə-tē 

: the state or condition of being precarious : precariousness

The older brother—Dave—raises the younger one, a responsibility that gives him a perpetual sense of life's urgency and precarity.

—Paul Elie

Job precarity can add to a number of social and economic challenges facing millennials including rising personal debts, growing costs of living, shrinking access to pensions and lower retirement savings.

—Arif Jetha

Examples of precarity in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Amid that climate of precarity, Fontaine’s work as a real estate agent has dried up. —Kelly Bastone, Outside Online, 24 Nov. 2024

Hals, too, painted the faces of a new secular élite that sought to flatter itself with the permanence of oil painting; Hals, too, caught the abundance as well as the wobbling precarity of his clients’ world, the sense that all this could tumble down tomorrow. —Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2024

As the first in his family to be born inside a house and not on the street, Aaron was astutely aware of the precarity of life. —Tyler Shepherd, USA TODAY, 21 Nov. 2024

The widespread low pay and precarity artists face today pushes talent out of the sector and limits the creativity of our artists. —George Nelson, ARTnews.com, 26 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

probably borrowed from French précarité, from précaire "granted or exercised only with the permission of another, insecure, uncertain" (going back to Middle French, borrowed from Latin precārius "given as a favor, uncertain, precarious") + -ité -ity

First Known Use

1910, in the meaning defined above