danger
Americannoun
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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.
But it only measures implied volatility for the broad S&P 500 over the coming 30 days and only tends to signal danger after something scary has happened.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 10, 2026
Brioney Garrett's identical girls' lives were in danger during her pregnancy before doctors at a London hospital used the treatment to seal blood vessels causing the problem, without needing an operation.
From BBC • Jul. 10, 2026
"We are in danger," said one group administrators, Dimitris Mitsopoulos.
From Barron's • Jul. 9, 2026
The Platner disaster shows the danger in that thinking—and the perils of the macho attitude behind it.
From Slate • Jul. 7, 2026
He didn’t know exactly what the danger was.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
