What does it mean to be at the brink of something?

: the edge at the top of a steep cliff —usually used figuratively to refer to a point that is very close to the occurrence of something very bad or (less commonly) very good He nearly lost everything because of his drug addiction, but his friends helped to pull him back from the brink.

How do you use a Brink?

We were almost on the brink of it. They will not see the horror, because they have never known it, and, like us in 1914, they will plunge over the brink. We are on the brink of a pay explosion once again. None of them wanted to be the first over the brink; one might even say over the cliff edge.

Where does the word brink come from?

Brink is a Low German, Dutch, Danish and Swedish toponymic surname. The Dutch and Low German meaning is “village green”. In Danish and Swedish, the name is thought to be a borrowing of Middle Dutch brinc / brink, meaning “grassy edge” or perhaps “slope”, and the Danish word now means “where the water runs deep”.

Is on the brink of a?

On the verge of doing something or of having some imminent event happen, especially that which is bad or disastrous. The company is still doing business, but ever since the recession hit they’ve been teetering on the brink of closing down.

What does the word brink mean in business?

brink | Business English. the point where a new, different, or dangerous situation is about to begin: the brink of collapse/bankruptcy/disaster Debt crisis led many companies to the brink of bankruptcy.

Which is example of a company on the brink of success?

Right now the company is poised on the brink of success. Many people lived on the brink of destitution even in the best of years. Instead, it turned into a wretched failure, bringing the country to the brink of defeat. These examples are from the Cambridge English Corpus and from sources on the web.

What does it mean to be on the brink of bankruptcy?

the point where a new, different, or dangerous situation is about to begin: the brink of collapse/bankruptcy/disaster Debt crisis led many companies to the brink of bankruptcy. They seem to be teetering on the brink of a major crisis. Right now the company is poised on the brink of success.

What does it mean to be on the brink of war?

a crucial or critical point, especially of a situation or state beyond which success or catastrophe occurs: We were on the brink of war.