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Glite Dictionary
⚠️ Critical point 🪨 The edge
brink

brink

127 5.7
A point when an important or dangerous change is about to happen
  • noun
  • /brɪŋk/
translation icon : borde
  • Several TYA companies have shut down; others teeter on the brink of financial collapse.
  • brink of extinction
  • back from the brink
  • teeter on the brink

Hungary was undergoing its own identity crisis, one that would lead it to the brink of a neo fascist state.

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Examples

  • All sides must now step back from the brink and find the courage of restraint.

  • And yet he had driven the country to the brink of disaster.

  • I just stopped myself every time when I was on the brink, just thought about my daughter.

  • Feels like it could happen, like we're on the brink, but it's just crazy crazy.

  • Now, however, we are on the brink of a new revolution.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Jamaica is on the brink of civil war.

    Bob Marley: One Love (2024)

  • Only certain hands can deliver the world from the brink of destruction.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • This is a story of a writer pushed to the brink of madness.

  • You've come back from failure, or at least the brink of disaster.

  • The country is on the brink of disaster if negotiations fail.

Synonyms

verge
vsbrink
159 3.7

The edge of a place or situation where something is about to happen

is more tied to a dangerous or critical moment rather than neutral change
on the verge of
vsbrink
144 3.8

Very close to doing or feeling something

leans more toward danger or steep edge scenarios rather than neutral nearing
on the brink of
vsbrink
52 4.5

Very close to something important or dangerous happening

is the general edge before important or disastrous moments rather than neutral ones
on the edge of
vsbrink
20 3.9

Very close to achieving something important

often implies risk or a critical border rather than simple closeness to success
at the threshold
vsbrink
3 4.2

About to begin something new or important

is used for dangerous or critical points, not merely for starting events
edge of the abyss
vsbrink
1 8.5

A dangerous point where disaster is about to happen

is broader, covering any imminent important event not only catastrophic danger
on a knife-edge
vsbrink
1 7.8

A situation that could easily end well or badly

focuses more on the physical or figurative border before something significant occurs

Antonyms

safety
∞ 1.0

A place or condition that protects you from danger

stability
363 3.1

Being steady and not likely to change

Idioms

on the brink of
52 4.5

Very close to something important or dangerous happening

on the brink of tears
4.6

About to start crying because you feel sad

How Close

brink
127 5.7
threshold
118 4.2
cusp
16 6.3
verge
159 3.7
edge
∞ 1.0
margin
33 3.6

Surface Forms

brink singular
brinks plural

Etymology

Brink comes from an old Norse word brinkr meaning 'edge', and it makes you think of being right up to a line where the next step changes everything. So when we say 'on the brink of disaster' we mean very close to an important or dangerous moment.