すんぜん
Meanings
Noun
Suffix
1. just before; on the verge of; on the brink of
2. just in front of; just ahead of
Pitch accent
んぜん
Composed of
sun (approx. 3.03 cm); length; measurement; shortness; tininess
last (i.e. immediately preceding); previous; pre- (e.g. premodern); before; before; earlier
Used in vocabulary (4 in total)
on the brink of collapse; in a state of near-collapse
being on the verge of starvation; being about to starve
Critically Endangered (conservation status); CE
Examples (5 in total)
She was on the verge of killing herself.
The plane was about to take off.
She was nearly frozen to death in the snow.
Our firm is on the verge of bankruptcy, I'm ashamed to say.
Let us hope the world will never be on the brink of a nuclear war.