Question

read the passage and use context clues to answer the questions. the roaring twenties was a decade of great optimism and enthusiasm following the end of world war i. it was also an era marked by wealth and excess in the united states. during this exuberant period, many people participated in precarious financial endeavors, such as risky investments in the stock market. as stock prices began to soar, more people were encouraged to invest. many individuals even borrowed money to buy stocks, believing that the market would continue to rise indefinitely. these events set the scene for the panic that would spread across the nation when the market finally crashed. on october 29, 1929 - a day now referred to as black tuesday - the new york stock exchange witnessed the most devastating stock market collapse that the nation had ever seen. prior to the collapse, the market had seen several days of rocky trading, and eventually fear set in. people tried to unload their stocks before they lost everything, which caused stock prices to plummet. the problem was exacerbated by rumors that even bankers were selling their stocks, causing prices to drop further. over sixteen million shares of stock were sold on black tuesday, and billions of dollars were lost. the crash signaled the beginning of a lasting economic downturn that came to be known as the great depression. what is the meaning of precarious as used in the passage?

Explanation:

The passage mentions "precarious financial endeavors, such as risky investments in the stock market". The word "risky" is a key - context clue. Precarious means uncertain and full of risk. Among the options, "unsafe" is closest in meaning as risky activities are often unsafe in a financial sense.

Answer:

unsafe