Word of the Day

: February 28, 2024

jeopardy

noun JEP-er-dee

What It Means

Jeopardy is defined as "exposure to or imminence of death, loss, or injury"; it is synonymous with danger. In legal contexts, jeopardy refers specifically to the danger that an accused person is subjected to when on trial for a criminal offense.

// Rather than risk placing passengers in jeopardy, the pilot waited for the storm to pass before taking off.

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jeopardy in Context

"As Dior rises to prominence with his groundbreaking, iconic imprint of beauty and influence, Chanel’s reign as the world’s most famous fashion designer is put into jeopardy." — Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 16 Nov. 2023

Did You Know?

We'll start with the answer and you provide the question: A word meaning "danger" that inspired the title of a popular game show. Got it? If you buzzed in "what is jeopardy?" you are correct! Today’s word dates back to at least the 1300s, but its Middle English form can make it hard to spot: it appears in the phrase "in jupartie" with a meaning very much akin to the word's meaning in the modern phrase "in jeopardy"—that is, "in danger." The spellings of what we now render only as jeopardy were formerly myriad. The Oxford English Dictionary reports that between the late 14th and mid-17th centuries the word was spelled in a great variety of ways, among them ieupardyes (the spelling Chaucer used in The Canterbury Tales), iupertie, iupartye, ieoperdis, and juperti. Indeed, like the eponymous quiz show Jeopardy!, today’s word has a long history; we’d wager it has a long future, too.