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peril

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Something that causes, contains, or presents danger.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

pehruhl

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpɛɹəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Something that causes, contains, or presents danger.

  2. A source of danger; a possibility of incurring loss or misfortune

  3. A situation of serious and immediate danger.

verb

  1. transitive

    To cause to be in danger; to imperil; to risk.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Something that causes, contains, or presents danger.

Used this way, peril is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Slightly negative
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Critical or judgemental
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

yellow perilgreat perilextreme peril

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • yellow perilnounCompound term

    The threat to Western civilization said to arise from the power of Asiatic peoples.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: something that causes or contains or or presents danger

hazardjeopardy

verb

Sense: to cause to be in danger

endangerimperildangerArchaicmenace

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.