Peril

//ˈpɛɹɪl// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A situation of serious and immediate danger. countable, uncountable

    "Your life is in peril."

  2. 2
    a venture undertaken without regard to possible loss or injury wordnet
  3. 3
    Something that causes, contains, or presents danger. countable, uncountable

    "the perils of the jungle (animals and insects, weather, etc.)"

  4. 4
    a source of danger; a possibility of incurring loss or misfortune wordnet
  5. 5
    An event which causes a loss, or the risk of a specific such event. countable, uncountable
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  1. 6
    a state of danger involving risk wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To cause to be in danger; to imperil; to risk. transitive

    "And are we, Mr. President, who stood by our country then, who threw open our coffers, who bared our bosoms, who freely perilled all in that conflict, to be reproached with want of attachment to the Union?"

  2. 2
    put in a dangerous, disadvantageous, or difficult position wordnet
  3. 3
    pose a threat to; present a danger to wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
dangerdangerendangerhazardhazardjeopardy

Example

More examples

"Many wild animals are in peril of losing their lives."

Etymology

From Middle English peril, from Old French peril, from Latin perīculum. Doublet of periculum.

Related phrases

at one's perilgreen perilperil pointyellow peril

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.