danger
Americannoun
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dangers
plural
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liability or exposure to harm or injury; risk; peril.
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an instance or cause of peril; menace.
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Obsolete. power; jurisdiction; domain.
noun
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the state of being vulnerable to injury, loss, or evil; risk
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a person or thing that may cause injury, pain, etc
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obsolete power
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liable to
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critically ill in hospital
Synonym Usage
Danger, hazard, peril, jeopardy imply harm that one may encounter. Danger is the general word for liability to all kinds of injury or evil consequences, either near at hand and certain, or remote and doubtful: to be in danger of being killed. Hazard suggests a danger that one can foresee but cannot avoid: A mountain climber is exposed to many hazards. Peril usually denotes great and imminent danger: The passengers on the disabled ship were in great peril. Jeopardy, a less common word, has essentially the same meaning as peril, but emphasizes exposure to the chances of a situation: To save his friend he put his life in jeopardy.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of danger
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English da(u)nger, from Anglo-French, Old French dangier, alteration of dongier (by influence of dam damage ), from Vulgar Latin domniārium (unrecorded), equivalent to Latin domini(um) dominion + -ārium (neuter of -ārius -ary )
Explanation
When you're in danger, it seems likely that you might get hurt. Your mom might warn you that if you don't wear your bicycle helmet, you're in danger of getting injured. A baby bird teetering on the edge of its nest is in danger, and a driver whose car stalls on railroad tracks is also in danger. When something unpleasant might happen, you can also use the word danger: "We were in danger of running out of guacamole before the party ended." Danger can also be a precarious or perilous place, as when you step up on the curb on a busy street, out of danger.
Vocabulary lists containing danger
Indiana Jones Vocabulary
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Part 1 Vocabulary (Unit 1)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
They can reach 60 knots, about 70 miles an hour, creating high danger during attempted interceptions by the few law enforcement vessels that can keep pace.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
The danger of dullness is heightened by the writing, which is plain and informational to an extreme.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
Japan's Meteorological Agency had warned of an "imminent threat to life", but several warnings have now been downgraded, with the danger to life warning remaining in place in Oshima Town.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
It remained a recurring danger for generations, repeatedly returning to communities across Europe.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
But since then, though the plumes hadn’t stopped, one company official reported, “There’s no concern of any immediate danger at all.”
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
The leaders of AI companies are right to take the risks they see seriously, and government has a legitimate role when developers can impose dangers on others.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
Utopian stories can provide direction, while dystopian stories can identify dangers and test whether an envisioned future genuinely addresses exclusion, power and conflict.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
Last week, Huang appeared at a UK summit hosted by King Charles, who warned tech leaders of the "existential dangers" of AI.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
The Anthropic CEO’s most recent warnings—in a lengthy essay a weekend ago—helped further inflame a national panic about the dangers of artificial intelligence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
He did not give a thought to the dangers his father detailed.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
