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Synonyms

danger

American  
[deyn-jer] / ˈdeɪn dʒər /

noun

  1. liability or exposure to harm or injury; risk; peril.

  2. an instance or cause of peril; menace.

  3. Obsolete. power; jurisdiction; domain.


danger British  
/ ˈdeɪndʒə /

noun

  1. the state of being vulnerable to injury, loss, or evil; risk

  2. a person or thing that may cause injury, pain, etc

  3. obsolete power

  4. liable to

  5. critically ill in hospital

"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

Related Words

Danger, hazard, peril, jeopardy imply harm that one may encounter. Danger is the general word for liability to all kinds of injury or evil consequences, either near at hand and certain, or remote and doubtful: to be in danger of being killed. Hazard suggests a danger that one can foresee but cannot avoid: A mountain climber is exposed to many hazards. Peril usually denotes great and imminent danger: The passengers on the disabled ship were in great peril. Jeopardy, a less common word, has essentially the same meaning as peril, but emphasizes exposure to the chances of a situation: To save his friend he put his life in jeopardy.

Other Word Forms

  • dangerless adjective
  • superdanger noun

Etymology

Origin of danger

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English da(u)nger, from Anglo-French, Old French dangier, alteration of dongier (by influence of dam damage ), from Vulgar Latin domniārium (unrecorded), equivalent to Latin domini(um) dominion + -ārium (neuter of -ārius -ary )

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

For younger children, the danger can be more immediate.

From Science Daily

The Kings were expected to do better in captain Anze Kopitar’s final campaign, but they are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in five seasons.

From Los Angeles Times

War markets have been a particularly sensitive topic for prediction markets, given that information about strikes against foreign adversaries could rely on highly classified information, and those bets could put lives in danger.

From The Wall Street Journal

She added that the question for the UK government now was to "protect our domestic homeland and to ensure that there are no present threats or incoming threats and dangers" to British citizens.

From BBC

He added that civilians would be in "immediate danger".

From BBC