Dictionary

perilous en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /pɛɹ.l̩.əs/
• (US) audio
• /ˈpɛɹ.ɪ.ləs/

Etymology

From Middle English perilous, from Old French perilleus, equivalent to peril + -ous, from the noun peril, or from Latin perīculōsus. Doublet of periculous.

Meanings

1. Dangerous, full of peril.
   • The effects are already being felt. Gamma radiation is flooding through the gaps; the quick-breeding viruses are mutating through half the world, faster than the Medical Art can control them, so that millions of us are sneezing and choking—and dying, too, for lack of antibiotics and proper care. Air travel is a perilous thing; just today, a stratosphere roc crashed head-on into a fragment of the sky and was killed with all its passengers. 1963, Lester del Rey, The Sky Is Falling:
   • Three miles or more to our starboard is a low dim line. It is the Eastern shore of Central Africa. We are running to the southward, before the North East Monsoon, between the mainland and the reef that for hundreds of miles fringes this perilous coast. 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

Forms

Deriveds

unperilous · perilously · perilousness

Relateds

peril · imperil

Synonyms

treacherous

Translations (43)

ru опа́сный (dangerous, full of peril) · pt arriscado (dangerous, full of peril) · pdt roakboa (dangerous, full of peril) · is hættulegur (dangerous, full of peril) · fi vaarallinen (dangerous, full of peril) · sv farlig (dangerous, full of peril) · hu kockázatos (dangerous, full of peril) · ca perillós (dangerous, full of peril) · nb farlig (dangerous, full of peril) · el επικίνδυνος (dangerous, full of peril) · bcl delikado (dangerous, full of peril) · it pericoloso (dangerous, full of peril) · pt periculoso (dangerous, full of peril) · es peligroso (dangerous, full of peril) · chr ᎦᎾᏰᎩ (dangerous, full of peril) · mk о́пасен (dangerous, full of peril) · tr tehlikeli (dangerous, full of peril) · bg опасен (dangerous, full of peril) · la perīculōsus (dangerous, full of peril) · fr périlleux (dangerous, full of peril) · de gefahrvoll (dangerous, full of peril) · yi סכּנהדיק (dangerous, full of peril) · cy enbyd (dangerous, full of peril) · mk ри́зичен (dangerous, full of peril) · ja 危ない (dangerous, full of peril) · nl gevaarlijk (dangerous, full of peril) · da farlig (dangerous, full of peril) · ar مخوف (dangerous, full of peril) · is háskalegur (dangerous, full of peril) · cy peryglus (dangerous, full of peril) · oc perilhós (dangerous, full of peril) · nn farefull (dangerous, full of peril) · it rischioso (dangerous, full of peril) · hu veszélyes (dangerous, full of peril) · pt perigoso (dangerous, full of peril) · de gefährlich (dangerous, full of peril) · fi hengenvaarallinen (dangerous, full of peril) · hu veszedelmes (dangerous, full of peril) · bg рискован (dangerous, full of peril) · nb farefull (dangerous, full of peril) · tl delikado (dangerous, full of peril) · pl niebezpieczny (dangerous, full of peril) · ru риско́ванный (dangerous, full of peril)