What does peril mean?
Peril is a formal word for serious danger, especially danger that is immediate, threatening, or difficult to avoid. It can refer to a specific threatening situation, as in a story about a traveler facing peril in a remote or dangerous place. It also appears in expressions such as “the perils of” a particular activity, where it refers broadly to the risks and hazards associated with that activity. The word carries a weighty, literary tone and is often used when the potential consequences are more severe than ordinary inconvenience or uncertainty. A speaker might describe a dangerous journey, a political crisis, or hazardous financial choices as involving peril. Across these uses, the central idea remains danger, while the surrounding context determines whether the danger is immediate or prospective. Peril is therefore especially useful when expressing not merely that something might go wrong, but that harm may be close at hand or the situation may become disastrous.
nounSerious or immediate danger, especially danger that is difficult to avoid or escape. It can also refer more broadly to the risks and hazards associated with an activity or situation.
- Serious or immediate danger, especially danger that threatens harm or catastrophe.
- A danger or risk inherent in an activity, undertaking, or situation.
"A false step could put the climbers in mortal peril."
"A single false step could plunge the expedition into peril."
"The article warns readers about the perils of making financial decisions without advice."
The plural is used especially for the individual dangers or risks associated with a broader activity, situation, or experience.
"The book explores the perils of living and working in a remote region."
Peril’s Latin ancestor, perīculum, meant “danger” or “risk”—a reminder that the word’s dramatic tone is older than its English history.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does peril come from?
The word entered Middle English from Anglo-French forms of peril, ultimately from Latin perīculum, meaning “danger” or “risk.” Latin perīculum is generally connected with perīrī, “to try or test,” which is also the root behind English words such as experience, experiment, and expert. In English, peril has long carried a formal and dramatic association with threatening or catastrophic circumstances.
Related word forms
How peril is actually used
Peril is formal and often literary or rhetorical. It usually suggests more serious or heightened danger than the more neutral word risk, and it can be used figuratively when discussing the hazards of a situation.
Easily confused with peril
A peril is danger that is especially serious or immediate, whereas a hazard is a source of possible harm or difficulty.