perilous
[per-uh-luhs]
- involving or full of grave risk or peril; hazardous; dangerous: a perilous voyage across the Atlantic in a small boat.
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Origin of perilous
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
safe.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
uncertaintouchythreateninghazardousshakytreacherousprecariousunstabledelicateticklishruggeddiceyriskychancyexposedhairyinsecureloadedunhealthyunsafeExamples from the Web for perilous
Contemporary Examples
Satirists occupy a perilous position—to skewer dogma and cant, and to antagonize the establishment while needing its protection.
It is a tricky and perilous path, but there are no realistic alternatives.
But if Mare Nostrum ends, it could be a tragic day for migrants making the perilous crossing.
Unfortunately, this can result in sending a well-intentioned but perilous message.
And now Persecuted holds up a mirror to the perilous situation facing increasingly disenfranchised Christians in modern America.
Historical Examples
For his perilous and laborious work it was better, he judged, that he should not be married.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
During this service, the most perilous action occurred in which he was ever engaged.
The Life of Horatio Lord NelsonRobert Southey
And these perilous contacts from all these strange hands he must endure.
White FangJack London
The Germans made that quite as perilous a venture as the advance had been.
They were in a perilous position, right beneath the guns of the fortress.
perilous
- very hazardous or dangerousa perilous journey
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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 perilous
adj.
c.1300, from Old French perillos "perilous, dangerous" (Modern French périlleux) "dangerous, hazardous," from Latin periculosus "dangerous, hazardous," from periculum "a danger, attempt, risk" (see peril). Related: Perilously; perilousness.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper