having three units or components or elements; "a ternary operation"; "a treble row of red beads"; "overcrowding made triple sessions necessary"; "triple time has three beats per measure"; "triplex windows"
an unstable construction with playing cards; "he built three levels of his cardcastle before it collapsed"
a speculative scheme that depends on unstable factors that the planner cannot control; "his proposal was nothing but a house of cards"; "a real estate bubble"