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
Related Words
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
- dangerless adjective
- superdanger noun
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 )
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.
The biggest danger to the economy, analysts say, could be the impact on middle- or lower-income Americans if gas prices rise 10 to 20 cents over in the next few months.
From MarketWatch
“Do you think sharks are a danger here?”
From Literature
I’d thought the danger of the Cocoon had been real before, but now that I was on the verge of getting caught, it all seemed to hit home just that much harder.
From Literature
If the cameras and heat sensors around the house detect danger, the system can envelop the home in over 1,000 gallons of fire retardant and hundreds of gallons of fire-suppressing foam.
From Los Angeles Times
“The primary danger lies in misinterpretation, particularly equating ‘insolvency’ with ‘no benefits,’ which underscores the importance of structured, accurate education rather than silence,” Mitchell said.
From MarketWatch
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.
