jeopardy

C2+ Topic:Safety & Risk

US /ˈdʒɛpərdi/ UK /ˈdʒɛpədi/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
danger of loss, harm, or failure; legal risk of conviction

One careless leak put the whole mission in jeopardy.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · danger of loss, harm, or... danger peril risk hazardendangermentprecariousness

Opposites

safety security

Word family

Derived forms jeopardize jeopardous

Simplified etymology

Jeopardy, formerly spelled iuparti, comes from Old French jeu parti, “an evenly divided game.” It first described a chess or game position in which victory and defeat were equally possible, then developed the late Middle English sense “dangerous situation” and the legal sense of danger incurred by standing trial.

Etymology

From Old French 'jeu parti' ('a divided game, an even or uncertain chance'), from Latin 'iocus' ('game, jest') + 'partiri' ('to divide'); the sense shifted from an even contest to risk of loss.

jeu parti Old French iocus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Safety & Risk Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# jeopardy

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈdʒɛpərdi/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈdʒɛpədi/

## Meanings
1. danger of loss, harm, or failure; legal risk of conviction

## Examples
- One careless leak put the whole mission in jeopardy.

## Synonyms
- danger
- peril
- risk
- hazard
- endangerment
- precariousness

## Antonyms
- safety
- security

## Derived Forms
- jeopardize
- jeopardous

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: jeu parti
- Root: iocus

## Etymology
From Old French 'jeu parti' ('a divided game, an even or uncertain chance'), from Latin 'iocus' ('game, jest') + 'partiri' ('to divide'); the sense shifted from an even contest to risk of loss.

## AI Etymology
Jeopardy comes from Old French 'jeu parti' ('a divided game, an even or uncertain chance'), from Latin 'iocus' ('game, jest') + 'partiri' ('to divide'); the sense shifted from an even contest to risk of loss. The etymological trail includes Old French jeu parti and Latin iocus. As a noun, jeopardy means danger of loss, harm, or failure; legal risk of conviction. The same family is visible in derived forms such as jeopardize and jeopardous. Morphologically, the word is built from the elements named in its history, so the modern form preserves a visible compound, prefix, or suffix structure. The uncertainty belongs to the older derivation, so the explanation should preserve alternatives rather than choosing one unsupported origin.

## Topics
- Safety & Risk
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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