jeopardy means danger of failure, harm, or loss. It carries an Arena rating of 1599, earned across 4 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, jeopardy ranks #440 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #559 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #773 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,414 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
jeopardy is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɛpədi/.
Why “jeopardy” is a great word
Exposure to danger, loss, or failure. From Middle English jupartie, jeupartie, from Anglo-Norman giu parti and Middle French jeu parti ("a divided game, i.e., an even chance"), from Medieval Latin iocus partītus ("an even chance, an alternative"), from Latin iocus ("jest, play, game") + partītus, perfect passive participle of partiō ("divide"). Unlike "peril," which suggests immediate, often mortal extremity, or "risk," which implies a voluntary, calculated venture, jeopardy names an involuntary state of precarious suspension—the game already in motion and no longer yours to control. It is the moment a jury retires to deliberate, the ice giving way beneath a single foot while the other still rests on solid shore, the envelope held to the light with its contents still opaque. The word carries the original sense of an even chance: not certain doom, but the terrible democracy of fortune, where everything might still be lost or won.
Etymology
From Middle English jupartie, jeupartie (“even chance”), from Anglo-Norman giu parti and Middle French jeu parti (“a divided game, i.e. an even game, an even chance”), from Medieval Latin iocus partītus (“an even chance, an alternative”), from Latin iocus (“jest, play, game”) + partītus, perfect passive participle of partiō (“divide”); see joke and party.
noun
- Danger of failure, harm, or loss.e.g.“The poor condition of the vehicle put its occupants in constant jeopardy.”
verb
- To jeopardize; to endanger.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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