- the brink (of something) if you are on the brink of something, you are almost in a very new, dangerous or exciting situation
- on the brink of collapse/war/death/disaster
- Scientists are on the brink of making a major new discovery.
- He's pulled the company back from the brink (= he has saved it from disaster).
- teetering/poised/hovering on the brink
- animals hovering on the very brink of extinction
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- very
- be (poised) on
- hover on
- stand on
- …
- brink of
- (literary) the extreme edge of land, for example at the top of a cliff or by a river
- the brink of the precipice
Word OriginMiddle English: of Scandinavian origin.
Idioms
See brink in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryteeter on the brink/edge of something
- to be very close to a very unpleasant or dangerous situation
- The country is teetering on the brink of civil war.
Check pronunciation:
brink