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🗓️ 18 June 2025
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 18, 2025 is:
jeopardize • \JEP-er-dyze\ • verb
To jeopardize something or someone is to put them at risk or in danger.
// The wrong decision could seriously jeopardize the success of the project.
Examples:
“To keep the cub from forming bonds with people that could jeopardize his return to the wild, staff members charged with his care are dressing up in bear costumes, including a mask, fur coat and leather gloves.” — Summer Lin, The Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2025
Did you know?
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.
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0:00.0 | It's the Word of the Day podcast for June 18th. |
0:11.6 | Today's word is jeopardize, spelled J-E-O-P-A-R-D-I-Z-E. |
0:19.1 | Jeopardize is a verb. |
0:20.6 | To jeopardize something or someone is to put them at risk or in danger. |
0:25.5 | Here's the word used in a sentence from the L.A. Times. To keep the cub from forming bonds with |
0:31.6 | people that would jeopardize his return to the wild, staff members charged with his care are dressing up in bear costumes, |
0:39.6 | including a mask, fur coat, and leather gloves. |
0:43.5 | Imagine your contestant on a game show, and your task is to provide a question as a response |
0:50.2 | to this statement from the host. This word was once controversial, and in 1870, a grammarian called it |
0:57.2 | a foolish and intolerable word, a view shared by many 19th century critics. If you answered, |
1:04.1 | what is jeopardize, you might be going home with some money. The preferred word back then was |
1:10.3 | Jeopard, which first appeared in print in the |
1:12.8 | 14th century. The upstart Jeopardyse didn't arrive until the late 16th century and took a while |
1:19.1 | to catch on. In 1828, Noah Webster himself declared Jeopardyze to be a modern word used by |
1:26.2 | respectable writers in America, but synonymous with |
1:29.3 | Jeopard and therefore useless. Unfortunately for the champions of the word jeopardize, increased usage |
1:36.2 | of jeopardize ultimately put the former word in jeopardy. Jeopardyred is now only rarely heard. |
1:42.5 | With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
1:49.4 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
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