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definitions

danger

[deyn-jer]
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noun

liability or exposure to harm or injury; risk; peril.
an instance or cause of peril; menace.
Obsolete. power; jurisdiction; domain.

Origin of danger

1175–1225; Middle English da(u)nger < Anglo-French; Old French dangier, alteration of dongier (by influence of dam damage) < Vulgar Latin *domniārium, equivalent to Latin domini(um) dominion + -ārium, neuter of -ārius -ary
Related formsdan·ger·less, adjectivesu·per·dan·ger, noun

Synonym study

1. 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.

dang

[dang]

verb (used with object), adjective, noun

damn (used euphemistically).

Origin of dang

First recorded in 1780–90
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for danger

peril, risk, probability, exposure, insecurity, jeopardy, uncertainty, emergency, possibility, threat, vulnerability, instability, menace, crisis, pitfall, precariousness, venture, exigency, precipice, endangerment

Examples from the Web for danger

Contemporary Examples of danger

Historical Examples of danger

  • But the Lacedæmonians make it a rule never to speak of danger from their slaves.

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

  • When you get back, if you get a chance to see him privately, you may tell him there is no danger of that.

    Brave and Bold

    Horatio Alger

  • Dost think I can let thee go into a danger I do not partake?

    The Armourer's Prentices

    Charlotte M. Yonge

  • They are barren, till the imagination has tenanted them with possibilities of danger and dismay.

    Malbone

    Thomas Wentworth Higginson

  • She evidently preferred facing any danger to parting with her child.

British Dictionary definitions for danger

danger

noun

the state of being vulnerable to injury, loss, or evil; risk
a person or thing that may cause injury, pain, etc
obsolete power
in danger of liable to
on the danger list critically ill in hospital
Derived Formsdangerless, adjective

Word Origin for danger

C13: daunger power, hence power to inflict injury, from Old French dongier (from Latin dominium ownership) blended with Old French dam injury, from Latin damnum

dang

interjection, adverb, adjective

a euphemistic word for damn (def. 1), damn (def. 2), damn (def. 3), damn (def. 4)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for danger
n.

mid-13c., "power of a lord or master, jurisdiction," from Anglo-French daunger, Old French dangier "power, power to harm, mastery, authority, control" (12c., Modern French danger), alteration (due to assoc. with damnum) of dongier, from Vulgar Latin *dominarium "power of a lord," from Latin dominus "lord, master" (see domain).

Modern sense of "risk, peril" (from being in the control of someone or something else) evolved first in French and was in English late 14c. Replaced Old English pleoh; in early Middle English this sense is found in peril.

dang

1793, euphemism for damn.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper