jeopardize
verb
Did you know?
Jeopardize Has a Controversial History
Imagine you’re a contestant on a game show, and your task is to provide a question as a response to this statement from the host: “This word was once controversial, and in 1870 a grammarian called it ‘a foolish and intolerable word,’ a view shared by many 19th-century critics.” If you answered, “What is jeopardize?,” you might be going home with some money! The preferred word back then was jeopard, which first appeared in print in the 14th century. The upstart jeopardize didn’t arrive until the late 16th century, and took a while to catch on. In 1828, Noah Webster himself declared jeopardize to be “a modern word, used by respectable writers in America, but synonymous with jeopard, and therefore useless.” Unfortunately for the champions of jeopard, increased usage of jeopardize ultimately put the former word in jeopardy. Jeopard is now only rarely heard.
Examples of jeopardize in a Sentence
Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2026
Do not jeopardize your job by doing it.
—Abigail Van Buren, Boston Herald, 7 Mar. 2026
Her doctors now had to choose between prioritizing Reid’s immediate health—by removing her from the trial—or by giving Reid steroids that could jeopardize the infusion’s success.
—Jason Liebowitz, New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2026
Their request comes after an official race vehicle misdirected the runners off the course, jeopardizing their qualification for the international team.
—Brittney Melton, NPR, 6 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for jeopardize
Cite this Entry
“Jeopardize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jeopardize. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
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