parlous

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adjective par·lous \ ˈpär-ləs \

Definition of parlous

1 obsolete :dangerously shrewd or cunning

2 :full of danger or risk

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parlously

adverb

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parlous was our Word of the Day on 02/16/2010. Hear the podcast!

Examples of parlous in a Sentence

The company is in a parlous financial situation.
He talked about the parlous state of the country.

Recent Examples of parlous from the Web

To be sure, there is much room for debate as to the current state of American institutions: My particular hobby-horses here are the growing power of the presidency and the courts relative to Congress, and the parlous state of civic culture.

— max bloom, National Review, "Democracy Is Not a Poll," 20 July 2017
WHO is in a parlous state WHO is no longer the sole leader in global health.

— joshua busby, Washington Post, "The World Health Organization just picked a new leader. These are the challenges he faces.," 15 June 2017
WHO is in a parlous state WHO is no longer the sole leader in global health.

— joshua busby, Washington Post, "The World Health Organization just picked a new leader. These are the challenges he faces.," 15 June 2017
Numerous commentaries from both the political left and right have expounded the parlous state of the Democratic Party.

— joel kotkin, Orange County Register, "How the Democrats can rebuild," 5 Mar. 2017
Despite everyone’s best efforts to shut out the world beyond New York Fashion Week: Men’s, a unifying theme emerged: the parlous state of current politics.

— guy trebay, New York Times, "Men’s Runways Are Threaded With Dissent," 3 Feb. 2017
The leap Grasson wants to make is especially parlous.

— alexander nazaryan, Newsweek, "Searching for California's Lost Viking Treasure Ship," 2 Feb. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'parlous.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Parlous is both a synonym and a derivative of "perilous"; it came to be as an alteration of "perilous" in Middle English. ("Perilous" is derived from the Anglo-French perilleus, which ultimately comes from the Latin word for "danger": "periculum.") Both words are documented in use from at least the 14th century, but by the 17th century "parlous" had slipped from common use and was considered more or less archaic. It experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 20th century (although some critics still regarded it as an archaic affectation), and today it appears in fairly common use, often modifying "state" or "times."