{
  "id": "precarious.unstable",
  "term": "precarious",
  "sense": "unstable",
  "pos": "adjective",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 15,
  "arena": "system",
  "domain": "emergent",
  "style": "window",
  "definition": "A parameter whose window is narrower than the ordinary size of drift, requiring more maintenance to keep it within the wall.",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "parameter.condition",
      "window.range",
      "drift.aimless",
      "maintenance.upkeep",
      "wall.range-end",
      "keep.maintenance",
      "narrow.spatial",
      "required.obligation",
      "size.measurement"
    ],
    "interaction": "drift.aimless pushes the parameter while maintenance.upkeep counteracts it, but because the window.range is narrow.spatial relative to drift.aimless's typical size.measurement, keeping the parameter within the wall.range-end demands more frequent or intense maintenance due to the increased required.obligation.",
    "novel_properties": [
      "narrowness relative to drift",
      "increased maintenance demand",
      "fragile stability"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The International Space Station maintains its orbit at 400 km, requiring monthly reboosts to counter atmospheric drag.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "The 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers revealed how mortgage-backed securities depended on continuously rising home prices.",
      "domain": "economics"
    },
    {
      "text": "Kakapo parrots on Codfish Island survive only through nightly supplementary feeding and predator control.",
      "domain": "biology"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "fragile.conditional",
      "type": "is-a",
      "note": "precarious implies fragility due to narrow margin"
    },
    {
      "id": "risk.uncertainty",
      "type": "contrasts-with",
      "note": "precarious involves known narrow window, not unknown risk"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "precarious",
    "precariously",
    "precariousness"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "retrofit:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.8,
    "sources": [
      "Sample/hundred-words-six-terms.md"
    ],
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "components",
      "note": "Removed 'windows.opening' (L11) as irrelevant; retained only concepts that are genuinely constitutive of the definition. Added missing but essential concepts from the provided list that the definition"
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-precarious.unstable"
}