parlous
/ˈpɑɹləs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.83 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "The situation became parlous when the weather made resupply impossible."
- "[B]ables and comedies are parlous fellowes to decipher, and diſcourage men (that is the point) with their wittie flowtes and learned jerkes, enough to laſh any man out of countenance."
- "The tongue is a sharp and parlous weapon, which we are bound to keep up in the sheath, or never to draw forth but advisedly, and upon just occasion; it must ever be wielded with caution and care: to brandish it wantonly, to lay about with it blindly and furiously, to slash and smite therewith any that happeth to come in our way, doth argue malice or madness."
- "The safest way in such a parlous doubt, / Is steady watch and keep a sharp look out."
- "in a parlous state"
- "All whiche offences and mysdemenors abovesaid have bene commytted to the grete hurte and undoyng of your orator, and the right evill and parlous example, [etc.]; […]"
Etymology
From Middle English parles, parlous, perlous, [and other forms], a contraction of perilous (“dangerous; dreadful, terrible; morally corrupt, sinful, wicked; inauspicious, unlucky”) (and thus a doublet of perilous), from Old French perilleus, perillos, perillous, perilluse, perilleuse, perilleux (“very dangerous, perilous”) (modern French périlleux), from Latin perīculōsus (“dangerous, hazardous, perilous”), from perīculum (“danger, hazard, peril, risk”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through, carry forth, try”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of, prone to’ forming adjectives).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɑɹləs/
- British English: /ˈpɑːləs/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more parlous (comparative)
most parlous (superlative)