Perilously

adv

adv ·4 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    In a perilous manner.

    "A rather interesting and notable convenience, however, is that of ice water bags, which are hung on to the outside of the coaches at certain stops. These can be reached by leaning out of the window rather perilously, to unhook them, and paper cups are stocked in the compartments."

Adverb
  1. 1
    in a dangerous manner wordnet

Example

More examples

"Due to overfishing, some fish stocks are now at perilously low levels."

Etymology

From Middle English perilously; equivalent to perilous + -ly.

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