danger

American  

[dayn-jer] / ˈdeɪn dʒər /

noun

• dangers
  plural

1. liability or exposure to harm or injury; risk; peril.

2. an instance or cause of peril; menace.

3. Obsolete. power; jurisdiction; domain.

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danger British  

/ ˈdeɪndʒə /

noun

1. the state of being vulnerable to injury, loss, or evil; risk

2. a person or thing that may cause injury, pain, etc

3. obsolete power

4. liable to

5. critically ill in hospital

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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

• superdanger
  noun
• dangerless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• dangers
  plural

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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 )

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

danger dangers

LeBron James says that his loved ones are not in danger after multiple media outlets reported that a man was arrested outside the former Lakers star’s Brentwood home late last week.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2026

Slow-moving but durable wheeled robots have become a crucial way of evacuating the battlefield wounded without exposing more soldiers to danger.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

BBC Sport understands Le Bris' job is not in immediate danger and he will be given more time to turn things around.

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026

But that does not mean the U.S. is out of danger.

From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2026

Jonah knew he was in greater danger than that.

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

EA is deeply rooted in Silicon Valley and counts controlling AI's dangers among its priorities.

From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2026

Molly may face dangers on her journey back across the open Atlantic including plastic pollution, fishing gear, hooks and boat strikes.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

But it shouldn’t blind us to the dangers Suleyman identified as arising from the very human tendency to anthropomorphize AI machines — that is, endowing them with human personalities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026

This isn’t to say that either of them is a raging narcissist who cares only about themselves, but there’s no doubt that their sport’s seismic, life-altering dangers are on full display, warts and all.

From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2026

I think Ma won’t want to know about the dangers.

From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

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Related Words

• crisis
• emergency
• exposure
• insecurity
• instability
• jeopardy
• menace
• peril
• pitfall
• possibility
• probability
• risk
• threat
• uncertainty
• vulnerability

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