peril
Americannoun
-
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:
Underestimate the physical demands, external of this non-contact sport at your peril.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
“Legally Blonde” sets up Elle to be underestimated by everybody, including the audience, although the movie drops small hints from the very start that perhaps everyone misjudges her at their peril.
From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2026
His exit foreshadows the peril to come at Sunnyside Daycare.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
But the federal sign-off does not end the deal's legal peril.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
So it was spring of the Year One in Erhenrang, capital city of Karhide, and I was in peril of my life, and did not know it.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Just a couple of days before that now-infamous blog post, the firm inadvertently provided a different, no-less-perfect example of the perils of mass digitization.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
“ProPublica’s reporting shows the perils of not having this law,” Rubin said.
From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2026
But by steering the live-action Prime Video adaptation directly into the anxieties of the zeitgeist, showrunner Eric Kripke has transformed the superhero satire into a terrifying tale about the perils of authoritarianism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
But when it’s not discussing existential perils of the universe, the document also happens to explain the business model of SpaceX.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
“And perhaps that will be true. Perhaps I will succumb to the perils of the forest, and it will be the Witch who comes to claim my child.”
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
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
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
One night last week an old dog periled the Earl's new job.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Uncounted gold shall be given to the man whose brave right hand, For the love of the periled city, plucks down yon burning brand!"
From Poems Teachers Ask For Selected by readers of "Normal Instructor-Primary Plans" by Various
He was not wise in so doing, for his life was of far too much value to France to be thus needlessly periled.
From Henry IV, Makers of History by Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
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
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 Lynde, Francis
No one could then manifest any sympathy with the proscribed without periling life.
From Josephine Makers of History by Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
He was one of those men, who, under more favorable circumstances, would have been a Cook, a Parry, or a Franklin, periling everything to make farther discovery in the science of geography.
From International Weekly Miscellany of Literature, Art, and Science — Volume 1, No. 4, July 22, 1850 by Various
He had refused Kate's prayer; he had driven her to this mad search and the contagion now periling her life, or, if it were spared, leaving her a hideous specter of herself.
From The Iron Game A Tale of the War by Keenan, Henry F. (Henry Francis)
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
Lester, he will not release the bird for which he has perilled so much," she said, with frank confidence in her tones, "and we must devise some means to save both him and his prize.
From Captain Kyd (Vol 1 of 2) or, The Wizard of the Sea by Ingraham, Jonathon Holt
I had perilled my life for it, and few men do as much for an opinion; for this reason I resolved, come what would, to maintain my ground, and hold fast to my conviction.
From Maurice Tiernay Soldier of Fortune by Lever, Charles James
She used the church to drag Her life from something, took it for a bladder To float her soul when it was perilled.
From Domesday Book by Masters, Edgar Lee
In that case," said Nina, quietly, "Mademoiselle has only perilled herself for nothing.
From The Daltons, Volume I (of II) Or,Three Roads In Life by Lever, Charles James
She was perilling her own in order to accompany and assist his expedition.
From The Firebrand by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)
He had lost caste, he feared, with Pledge, and he was running into the enemy’s country and perilling not only himself, but Dick, in the venture.
From Follow My leader The Boys of Templeton by Stacey, W. S. (Walter S.)
It is not impossible, however, that in taking this step I may be perilling my own safety.
From Maurice Tiernay Soldier of Fortune by Lever, Charles James
But what was to be done with my dear wounded friend, who had saved my life by perilling his own?
From Working in the Shade Lowly Sowing brings Glorious Reaping by Wilson, Theodore P.
I thought I was perilling my head by coming here, and you tell me I have saved it.
From Vera or, The Nihilists by Wilde, Oscar
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.
