Perilous: meaning, example and synonyms
Perilousadj. Full of danger or risk; hazardous.
Example
The expedition's route over the glacier grew more perilous each afternoon, when meltwater weakened the snow bridges that spanned its hidden crevasses.
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Synonyms
- dangerous, hazardous, risky, precarious
- Antonyms
- safe, secure, harmless, protected
- Memory tip
- Perilous = full of PERIL, which means danger.
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Check yourself: Perilous in context
The narrow mountain road became especially ______ in winter, when ice formed on its hairpin turns and there were no guardrails above the sheer drop.
Answer: perilous. Ice, hairpin turns and no guardrails make the road dangerous: perilous. congruent (consistent), mundane (ordinary) and sordid (morally vile) don't fit this context.
Sailors in the age of wooden ships considered the passage around the cape ______, as sudden gales and rogue waves had claimed hundreds of vessels.
Answer: perilous. A passage where gales sank hundreds of ships is perilous. congruent (consistent), mundane (ordinary) and tenacious (persistent) don't fit this context.