adjective

• 1Full of danger or risk.

  ‘a perilous journey south’

  More example sentences

  • ‘I thus embark on a perilous undertaking, knowing full well that I risk the wrath of both women and men.’
  • ‘But when the distances are longer and the borders tougher, the journeys become much more perilous.’
  • ‘The situation was extremely perilous and the patrol was in danger of being wiped out by the heavy crossfire.’
  • ‘It was during this perilous time of greed and destruction that a prophecy was made.’
  • ‘He does just that and embarks on the most perilous journey of his life.’
  • ‘For mothers and children, the situation is even more perilous.’
  • ‘During the first two seasons, creators treated even the most perilous situations with a tongue-in-cheek attitude.’
  • ‘If they did not, the situation may be even more perilous.’
  • ‘But failure to create a viable land settlement was politically perilous.’
  • ‘If life in politics is precarious, it seems to be particularly perilous for those who are close to him.’
  • ‘He had immediately made the perilous journey - just to see to my funeral!’
  • ‘After a while, the trio finally got underway and started their perilous journey.’
  • ‘Yet while each took politically perilous lead roles on controversial issues, both managed to win new four-year terms.’
  • ‘The defender, recognizing his perilous position, then forces the space open.’
  • ‘Despite the government's policies, many more people are about to undertake these perilous voyages.’
  • ‘Multilayered clouds, low ceilings, winter icing, fog and high winds make air-to-ground engagements perilous among mountain peaks.’
  • ‘The travel back wasn't nearly as perilous as the travel into the forest.’
  • ‘But over the past few days, the local fishermen have proved as perilous as the weather conditions.’
  • ‘To dismiss and to ignore this further issue as an irrelevancy is absolutely perilous.’
  • ‘One minute he would be home, the next gone on a perilous mission.’

  Synonyms

  dangerous, fraught with danger, hazardous, risky, unsafe, treacherous

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1Exposed to imminent risk of disaster or ruin.
     ‘the economy is in a perilous state’
     More example sentences

     • ‘The prospect of mass destruction made real the perilous state of western civilization.’
     • ‘His financial state is also said to be increasingly perilous.’
     • ‘We are appalled at the perilous state of the farming and fishing industries.’
     Synonyms

     dangerous, risky, perilous, hazardous, precarious, life-threatening, high-risk, treacherous, insecure, unsound, vulnerable, exposed, defenceless

     View synonyms