jeopardy
pronunciation
How to pronounce jeopardy in British English:
UK [ˈdʒepədi]
How to pronounce jeopardy in American English:
US [ˈdʒepərdi]
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- Noun:
- a source of danger; a possibility of incurring loss or misfortune
Word Origin
- jeopardy
- jeopardy: [14] The semantic focus of jeopardy has changed subtly over the centuries. Originally it meant ‘even chance’, but gambling being the risky business it is, and human nature having a strong streak of pessimism, attention was soon focussed on the ‘chanciness’ rather than the ‘evenness’, and by the late 14th century jeopardy was being used in its modern sense ‘risk of loss or harm, danger’. The word originated in the Old French expression jeu parti, literally ‘divided play’, hence ‘even chance’. It was to begin with a term in chess and similar board games.
- jeopardy (n.)
- c. 1300, ioparde (13c. in Anglo-French), from Old French jeu parti, literally "a divided game, game with even chances," from jeu "a game" (from Latin iocus "jest;" see joke (n.)) + parti, past participle of partir "to divide" (see part (v.)). Originally "a stratagem;" sense of "danger, risk" is late 14c.
Antonym
Example
- 1. Accept that your identity is in jeopardy .
- 2. For a government to surrender our nuclear deterrent will be an unprecedented act of folly that will put the nation in jeopardy .
- 3. Some of those are in jeopardy .
- 4. But a changing environment could put the reef 's future in jeopardy .
- 5. The plan envisaged elections in november , an offer that is now in jeopardy .