Standard Lemma guide

perilous

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈpɛɹ.ɪ.ləs/
  • /pɛɹ.l̩.əs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P EH1 R AH0 L AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Dangerous, full of peril.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: treacherous

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

fraught with danger

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • dangerous waters
  • a parlous journey on stormy seas
  • a perilous voyage across the Atlantic in a small boat
  • the precarious life of an undersea diver
  • dangerous surgery followed by a touch-and-go recovery

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: parlous, precarious, touch-and-go

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

42 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Central Bikol: delikado — dangerous, full of peril
  • Bulgarian: опасен (opasen) — dangerous, full of peril
  • Bulgarian: рискован (riskovan) — dangerous, full of peril
  • Catalan: perillós — dangerous, full of peril
  • Cherokee: ᎦᎾᏰᎩ (ganayegi) — dangerous, full of peril
  • Danish: farlig — dangerous, full of peril
  • Dutch: gevaarlijk — dangerous, full of peril
  • Finnish: vaarallinen — dangerous, full of peril
  • Finnish: hengenvaarallinen — dangerous, full of peril
  • French: périlleux — dangerous, full of peril
  • German: gefährlich — dangerous, full of peril
  • German: gefahrvoll — dangerous, full of peril
  • Greek: επικίνδυνος (epikíndynos) — dangerous, full of peril
  • Hungarian: veszélyes — dangerous, full of peril
  • Hungarian: veszedelmes — dangerous, full of peril
  • Hungarian: kockázatos — dangerous, full of peril
  • Icelandic: hættulegur — dangerous, full of peril
  • Icelandic: háskalegur — dangerous, full of peril
  • Italian: pericoloso — dangerous, full of peril
  • Italian: rischioso — dangerous, full of peril
  • Japanese: 危ない — dangerous, full of peril
  • Latin: perīculōsus — dangerous, full of peril
  • Macedonian: о́пасен (ópasen) — dangerous, full of peril
  • Macedonian: ри́зичен (rízičen) — dangerous, full of peril
  • Norwegian Bokmål: farlig — dangerous, full of peril
  • Norwegian Bokmål: farefull — dangerous, full of peril
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: farefull — dangerous, full of peril
  • Occitan: perilhós — dangerous, full of peril
  • Plautdietsch: roakboa — dangerous, full of peril
  • Polish: niebezpieczny — dangerous, full of peril
  • Portuguese: periculoso — dangerous, full of peril
  • Portuguese: arriscado — dangerous, full of peril
  • Portuguese: perigoso — dangerous, full of peril
  • Russian: опа́сный (opásnyj) — dangerous, full of peril
  • Russian: риско́ванный (riskóvannyj) — dangerous, full of peril
  • Spanish: peligroso — dangerous, full of peril
  • Swedish: farlig — dangerous, full of peril
  • Tagalog: delikado — dangerous, full of peril
  • Turkish: tehlikeli — dangerous, full of peril
  • Welsh: peryglus — dangerous, full of peril
  • Welsh: enbyd — dangerous, full of peril
  • Yiddish: סכּנהדיק (sakonedik, sekonedik) — dangerous, full of peril