as in dangerous
involving potential loss or injury
window washing can indeed be a parlous occupation on a skyscraper
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Recent Examples of parlous
Photograph: Lamborghini This move from Lamborghini underlines the parlous state of luxury EVs at present, a trend WIRED has charted.
—
Jeremy White, Wired News, 23 Feb. 2026
Declining revenues combined with soaring wage costs shifted the club’s finances into a parlous state.
—Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 5 Feb. 2026
The increasingly parlous state of Francophone West Africa’s second-largest economy led to a credit downgrade by S&P in July which has pushed up borrowing costs.
—semafor.com, 10 Nov. 2025
Reflecting wider financial market nerves around the parlous state of French politics, the yield on France’s 30-year bond yield rose above 4.5% on Tuesday — hitting a level last seen in 2008 — before lightly easing to to 4.48% on Wednesday.
—Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for parlous
Jeremy White, Wired News, 23 Feb. 2026
Declining revenues combined with soaring wage costs shifted the club’s finances into a parlous state.
—Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 5 Feb. 2026
The increasingly parlous state of Francophone West Africa’s second-largest economy led to a credit downgrade by S&P in July which has pushed up borrowing costs.
—semafor.com, 10 Nov. 2025
Reflecting wider financial market nerves around the parlous state of French politics, the yield on France’s 30-year bond yield rose above 4.5% on Tuesday — hitting a level last seen in 2008 — before lightly easing to to 4.48% on Wednesday.
—Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for parlous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for parlous
Adjective
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Yet oil futures have not skyrocketed to the dangerous levels forecasters feared — at least not yet.—
Matt Egan,
CNN Money,
9 June 2026
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Financial watchdogs view telecoms acting as dangerous regulatory arbitrage, fearing that seamless digital wallets are a backdoor for capital flight.—
Tiisetso Motsoeneng,
semafor.com,
8 June 2026
Adjective
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Remain out of the water to avoid hazardous surf and NEVER turn your back on the ocean.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
10 June 2026
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Tests revealed the water is contaminated with nitrate, which can come from fertilizer, animal manure or human sewage, and 1,2,3-trichloropropane, a hazardous chemical that was widely used in pesticides years ago.—
Ian James,
Los Angeles Times,
10 June 2026
Adjective
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With Hillary Dawa alone on the world’s tallest mountain in perilous conditions for so long, his family had already begun funeral rites for him.—
Helen Regan,
CNN Money,
5 June 2026
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In the days after finding the five men alive, rescuers made the perilous journey in and out of the cave multiple times to bring them food and water.—
Janis Mackey Frayer,
NBC news,
4 June 2026
Adjective
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In early April, the US military had to launch a risky operation to rescue one of the pilots of a F-15E Strike Eagle that was shot down inside Iran.—
Todd Symons,
CNN Money,
9 June 2026
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But that would be risky because a new deal could clog Miami’s cap, eliminating potential max salary cap space next summer unless Miami can find a taker for Jovic’s extension.—
Barry Jackson,
Miami Herald,
9 June 2026
Adjective
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Michael Olise — France/Bayern Munich Olise made the leap to serious Ballon d’Or contender last season, tearing apart Bundesliga defences and elite Champions League opponents from his starting position on the right flank.—
Liam Twomey,
New York Times,
11 June 2026
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If the cost of moving cargo to orbit falls by an order of magnitude, projects once confined to science fiction may begin to attract serious commercial investment.—
Jamie Carter,
Forbes.com,
11 June 2026
Adjective
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In a recent rapid assessment in India, where tariffs rose to as much as 50 percent last year, AFWA found that suppliers absorbing cost increases passed them on to their employees through rising workloads, precarious wages and other hallmarks of deepening exploitation.—
Jasmin Malik Chua,
Footwear News,
10 June 2026
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In the political landscape that Tate helped create, women hold an increasingly precarious position.—
Heidi Blake,
New Yorker,
8 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Parlous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/parlous. Accessed 13 Jun. 2026.
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