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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

jeopardy

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster

Arts, Literature, Language Courses, Education

4.31.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2024

⏱️ 2 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 28, 2024 is:

jeopardy • \JEP-er-dee\  • noun

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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Examples:

"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.



Transcript

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0:00.0

It's Merriam-Webster's word of the day for February 28th.

0:11.3

Today's word is Jeopardy, spelled J-E-O-P-A-N-G-E-Oopardy is a noun. It's defined as exposure to or imminence of death, loss, or injury. It's synonymous with the word danger. In legal

0:26.4

contexts, Jeopardy refers specifically to the danger that an accused person is

0:31.0

subjected to when on trial for a criminal offense.

0:35.0

Here's the word used in a sentence from Billboard by Gil Kaufman.

0:39.6

As Dior rises to prominence with his groundbreaking iconic imprint of beauty and influence,

0:45.1

Shonell's reign as the world's most famous fashion designer is put into jeopardy.

0:50.7

We'll start with the answer and you provide the question. A word meaning

0:56.7

danger that inspired the title of a popular game show. Got it? If you buzzed in what is Jeopardy, you're correct. Today's word dates back to at least

1:06.6

the 1300s, but its middle English form can make it hard to spot. It appears in the phrase in Joparti, with a meaning very much

1:16.6

akin to the words meaning in the modern phrase in jeopardy that is in danger. The spellings of what we now render only as jeopardy were formerly

1:26.2

myriad. The Oxford English Dictionary reports that between the late 14th and

1:31.2

mid-17th century the word was spelled in a great variety of ways, more or less conforming to the

1:36.8

words original French word parts. Indeed, like the eponymous quiz show Jeopardy,

1:42.6

today's word has a long history,

1:44.9

and we'd wager that it has a long future, too.

1:47.6

With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.

1:51.0

Visit Marion Webster. Webster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word

1:58.6

lookups.

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