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jeopardy

[jep-er-dee]
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noun, plural jeop·ard·ies.
  1. hazard or risk of or exposure to loss, harm, death, or injury: For a moment his life was in jeopardy.
  2. peril or danger: The spy was in constant jeopardy of being discovered.
  3. Law. the danger or hazard of being found guilty, and of consequent punishment, undergone by criminal defendants on trial.
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Origin of jeopardy

1200–50; Middle English j(e)uparti, joupardi(e), j(e)upardi(e) < Anglo-French, Old French: literally, divided game or play, hence, uncertain chance, problem (in chess or love), equivalent to j(e)u play, game (< Latin jocus joke) + parti, past participle of partir to divide; see party

Synonym study

1, 2. See danger.

Antonyms

1, 2. security.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for jeopardy

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Now do be careful of yourself, pray do, and consider what jeopardy you might have stood in.

    Barnaby Rudge

    Charles Dickens

  • What was a boy's whiplash, that his resentment of it; should set all his future life in jeopardy?

    The Sea-Hawk

    Raphael Sabatini

  • I would not have those of your meinie brought into jeopardy for my cause.'

    Two Penniless Princesses

    Charlotte M. Yonge

  • The astronomical endowment was soon in jeopardy by litigation.

  • They had volunteered to serve him, and put themselves in jeopardy for his sake.

    Two Sides of the Face

    Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

British Dictionary definitions for jeopardy

jeopardy

noun (usually preceded by in)
  1. danger of injury, loss, death, etc; risk; peril; hazardhis health was in jeopardy
  2. law danger of being convicted and punished for a criminal offenceSee also double jeopardy
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Word Origin

C14: from Old French jeu parti, literally: divided game, hence uncertain issue, from jeu game, from Latin jocus joke, game + partir to divide, from Latin partīrī
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 jeopardy

n.

c.1300, ioparde (13c. in Anglo-French), from Old French jeu parti, literally "a divided game, game with even chances," from jeu "a game" (from Latin iocus "jest;" see joke (n.)) + parti, past participle of partir "to divide" (see part (v.)). Originally "a stratagem;" sense of "danger, risk" is late 14c.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper