MEANING
To put someone or something at serious risk of harm, loss, or failure.
Use it for
Name a threat to safety, prospects, or success.Make the stakes explicit when a choice or event puts safety, trust, or future success at risk.
Words that belong together
- imperil lives
- imperil a plan
- imperil someone’s future
On the page
One careless signal could imperil the evacuees crossing the ridge.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Word forms
- Base
- imperil
- Past tense
- imperiled
- Past participle
- imperiled
- Present participle
- imperiling
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- imperil
- Present continuous
- am/is/are imperiling
- Present perfect
- have/has imperiled
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been imperiling
- Past
- imperiled
- Past continuous
- was/were imperiling
- Past perfect
- had imperiled
- Past perfect continuous
- had been imperiling
- Future
- will imperil
- Future continuous
- will be imperiling
- Future perfect
- will have imperiled
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been imperiling
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Usually takes a direct object; it signals consequential danger, not mere inconvenience.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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