peril
Americannoun
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perils
plural
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exposure to injury, loss, or destruction; grave risk; jeopardy; danger.
They faced the peril of falling rocks.
-
something that causes or may cause injury, loss, or destruction.
verb (used with object)
noun
Synonym Usage
See danger.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of peril
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”; see experience) + -culum -cle 2
Explanation
If you realize mid-climb that your rock climbing rope is frayed, you might be in peril. The word peril means imminent danger to life and limb. Peril comes from the Latin peric(u)lum, meaning danger. Today it's often used in tandem with the word mortal, which relates to death. For example, you're in mortal peril when you're flying down a cliff-side trail on your mountain bike and you hit loose gravel. Peril can also describe dangers of a less physical sort, though it's less common. If your employer sinks your 401K into what turns out to be a Ponzi scheme, he's put your retirement in peril.
Vocabulary lists containing peril
"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs
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"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
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ACT Vocabulary List
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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.
See Examples For:
His key judgement, however, will be a balance between extra financial and economic support and the peril of still elevated borrowing costs.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
Congressional and state lawmakers are wrestling with how to respond to an industry that presents such extreme promise and peril.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
And he fundamentally gets the peril we’ve put ourselves in by entrusting Zuckerberg, who is, at minimum, an ethically askew man.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
Fashion giants on both sides of the Atlantic are underestimating the Chinese shopper at their own peril.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
He forbade them to touch them—“I have told you my will! Thwart it at your peril, for I am guided by the ancestral spirits.”
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
Instead, you should think of them as red flags, signaling the perils of reacting on the basis of untested evidence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Conflict is ever-present in Morrison, who chooses to climb Everest despite its perils.
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2026
Industry figures have suggested comments about the perils and power of AI may be designed to generate hype.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
Created by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw, the series follows five 20-something housemates in Queens as they navigate the pleasures and perils of early adulthood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026
Her awareness of life’s perils convinced her that while I would be safe on the public conveyances, she “wasn’t about to trust a taxi driver with her baby.”
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
Whether Franklin Roosevelt consciously led the U.S. to war, or hoped to keep the U.S. out by a daring support of its periled friends, will be historians' debating ground for years to come.
From Time Magazine Archive
We all realize that we live in periled times, and our nation must be prepared to defend itself at a moment's notice.
From Time Magazine Archive
One night last week an old dog periled the Earl's new job.
From Time Magazine Archive
A number of verbal alterations had been made in Mr. Jefferson's draft, and one whole paragraph, which severely denounced Slavery was stricken out, because it periled the unanimity of the vote.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, July, 1851 by Various
I have danced with them, and romped with them in the country, and periled the salvation of my "white tights" by sitting near them at supper.
From Little Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor Volume I by Thomas L. Masson
Justice Department attorneys respond that fears about Snepp's being a loose cannon periling the First Amendment rights of all sorts of people are greatly exaggerated.
From Time Magazine Archive
The case of the colored man Davis, who made such a bold stroke to regain his liberty, by periling his life on board the steamer Keystone State, has excited very general attention.
Too comfortable in his feelings to keep still, as indeed was indispensable to the most steady among us, he kept constantly lurching about, and periling us with a capsizing repeatedly.
From Forest Life and Forest Trees: comprising winter camp-life among the loggers, and wild-wood adventure. with Descriptions of lumbering operations on the various rivers of Maine and New Brunswick by John S. Springer
He reconnoitred every available point, searched every corner of possible danger, and as the time passed he began to rage with impatience against Dick, whose delay was now periling the success of the enterprise.
From The Iron Game A Tale of the War by Henry F. (Henry Francis) Keenan
For now it came to me that while I would be saving life, mayhap I had been periling it again.
From The Master of Appleby A Novel Tale Concerning Itself in Part with the Great Struggle in the Two Carolinas; but Chiefly with the Adventures Therein of Two Gentlemen Who Loved One and the Same Lady by Francis Lynde
But a monarch of the forest flung his head in furious rage, Naught he cared for sovereign sahib, sought some foe now to engage; While the crowd in panic parted, perilled pundits sought a sage.
From Time Magazine Archive
His feelings toward the devoted and interesting maiden, who had perilled and suffered so much on his account, were enthusiastic in the highest degree.
From The Cavaliers of Virginia or, The Recluse of Jamestown. Vol. II by William A. (Alexander) Caruthers
I perilled my life a dozen times to save his; I followed him blindly upon a hundred terrible ventures; I lived but for his service.
From Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer A Romance of the Spanish Main by Will Crawford
Is this young prince mad," they whispered one to another, "to risk the loss of that for which he perilled his life?
From The Thousand and One Days A Companion to the 'Arabian Nights' by Julia Pardoe
Mademoiselle," he said, "if an angel from heaven had appeared to me and asked me to have mercy on that villain, I should have perilled my own soul rather than let him go unpunished.
From Marguerite De Roberval A Romance of the Days of Jacques Cartier by T. G. Marquis
It is not impossible, however, that in taking this step I may be perilling my own safety.
From Maurice Tiernay Soldier of Fortune by Charles James Lever
But he answered, that "he could not stop to calculate chances, when his subjects were perilling their lives for his sake;" a reply, says Pulgar, which endeared him to the whole army.
From The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic — Volume 2 by William Hickling Prescott
He had been thinking more of her through that wild ride than of the friend whose life he was perilling his own to save.
From Round Anvil Rock A Romance by Nancy Huston Banks
It was at least a foot higher and of solid stone masonry, and as I did so I felt that I was perilling my life to save theirs.
From Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon, Volume 2 by Charles James Lever
That wife, whom it is your greatest pleasure to win to smiles, wears a half-sad look as she meets these proofs of love; she fears that you are perilling too much for her pleasure.
From Dream Life A Fable Of The Seasons by Donald Grant Mitchell
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