yellow peril

Save This Word!

noun Disparaging and Offensive.

(in historical contexts) the alleged danger that predominantly white Western civilizations and populations could be overwhelmed by Asian peoples.

the Asian peoples regarded as presenting such a danger.

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

who

whom

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Also called yellow terror .

Origin of yellow peril

First recorded in 1895–1900

usage note for yellow peril

See yellow.

Words nearby yellow peril

Yellow Newtown, Yellow No. 5, yellow pad, yellow pages, yellow perch, yellow peril, yellow pikeperch, yellow pine, yellow poplar, yellow puccoon, yellow rain

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use yellow peril in a sentence

Abraham, a yellow cab driver and student, feels that blacks are targeted unfairly by the police.
Ground Zero of the NYPD Slowdown|Batya Ungar-Sargon|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Some of the items Indonesian military aircraft saw were long yellow tubes.
Wreckage, Bodies of AirAsia Crash Found|Lennox Samuels|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We separate the search for justice from the search for truth at our peril.
Bill de Blasio’s Tea Party Problem|Will Cain|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
With the first set I did, the colors of the couch determined that the rest of it would be blue and yellow and white.
#Setinthestreet: Your Street Corner Is Their Art Project|James Joiner|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Behind him stood a flock of fifth-grade boys—and two second-grade girls—all of them wearing the exact same yellow hat.
Even Grade School Kids Are Protesting the Garner Killing Now|Caitlin Dickson|December 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The pink flowers are the largest while those of a yellow color are the smallest.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
The flowers grow in clusters from the extremities of the stalk; they are yellow externally and of a delicate red within.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
I must aspire to the agitating transports of self-devotion, in scenes of sacrifice and peril!
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter
They tobogganed down hills without a brake at the imminent peril of their lives.
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol|William J. Locke
He was cast down to think that he might have spared himself the trouble of donning his beautiful yellow doublet from Paris.
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini

British Dictionary definitions for yellow peril

yellow peril

noun

the power or alleged power of Asiatic peoples, esp the Chinese, to threaten or destroy the supremacy of White or Western civilization

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

Cultural definitions for yellow peril

Yellow Peril

A supposed threat to the United States posed by Japan and China. The phrase arose in the late nineteenth century, at a time when Japanese and Chinese immigration to America was meeting resistance and when Japan was growing as a military power. (See internment of Japanese Americans.)