peril

[per-uhl]

noun

1. exposure to injury, loss, or destruction; grave risk; jeopardy; danger.

   They faced the peril of falling rocks.

2. something that causes or may cause injury, loss, or destruction.

verb (used with object)

periled, periling , perilled, perilling .

1. to expose to danger; imperil; risk.

peril

/ ˈpɛrɪl /

noun

1. exposure to risk or harm; danger or jeopardy

Other Word Forms

• perilless adjective
• multiperil adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of peril¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin perīculum “danger, test, trial,” from perī-, verb base meaning “try” (also found in the compound experīrī “to try, test”; experience ) + -culum -cle ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of peril¹

C13: via Old French from Latin perīculum

Synonym Study

See danger.

Example Sentences

Increasingly, we do so at our own peril, retreating into screens that bombard us with ever more fearsome stories of others, which causes us to retreat even further.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In others, they appeared to refer to the woman Summers was attracted to by a code name: “peril.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The USDA’s announcement of the blockade didn’t tie the screwworm peril to immigration, illegal or otherwise, but to commercial imports.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

A recognition that humans are also dependent on the complex ecosystems we have so carelessly put into peril: dependent for food, for water, for shelter—for our very survival.

Read more on Literature

I held house parties and card parties to help keep them entertained at home and so they would be safe from segregation’s sting as well as its perils.

Read more on Literature

Related Words

• hazard 
• insecurity 
• jeopardy 
• menace 
• pitfall 
• uncertainty 
• vulnerability