parlous

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was described by Fowler (1926) as 'a word that wise men leave alone', and the current edition (2006) of the Concise Oxford Dictionary marks it as 'archaic or humorous'. This is a sad fate for a long-serving word, originally formed as a variant of perilous and for many centuries used side by side with it in the same range of meaning. It can be safely used in the expression in a parlous state (or condition) even in only moderately formal English:

He was altogether in a parlous state: the weather was bad, there was no water in the flat; he did not care to go out at nights and was seeing fewer people—P. Ackroyd, 1988.

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New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd refers to Iraq alliteratively as "our parlous protectorate," implying that the US is not doing a very good job protecting its protectorate:

"In Hollywood terms, we've reached an Indiana Jones crisis moment in our parlous protectorate. The cave is collapsing, the snakes are encroaching, the vehicles are exploding, the crushing ball is rolling down on us."

Link: Nipping and Tucking on Both Coasts

Posted March 9, 2006.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

adjective

Involving possible risk, loss, or injury: adventurous, chancy, dangerous, hazardous, jeopardous, perilous, risky, treacherous, unsafe, venturesome, venturous. Slang hairy. See safety/danger.

For a list of words related to parlous, see:

• Troublesome, Negative, Irresponsible, or Unpleasant
• Fraud, Treachery, and Deception - parlous: (adj) dangerously shrewd and cunning

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See words rhyming with "parlous."

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - farlig
adv. - vældig

Nederlands (Dutch)
gevaarlijk, uitgekookt, moeilijk

Français (French)
adj. - alarmant
adv. - de manière alarmante

Deutsch (German)
adj. - kritisch, prekär
adv. - sehr

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - επισφαλής
adv. - (απαρχ.) λίαν

Italiano (Italian)
precario, pericoloso, rischioso, pericolosamente

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - perigoso, sagaz
adv. - astuciosamente, excessivamente

Русский (Russian)
опасный, ужасный, опасно, ужасно

Español (Spanish)
adj. - alarmante, peligroso
adv. - en forma o de manera alarmante o peligrosa

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - farlig, svår, kinkig
adv. - väldigt, mäkta

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
危险的, 麻烦的, 不易对付的, 非常地, 极度地

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 危險的, 麻煩的, 不易對付的
adv. - 非常地, 極度地

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 위험한, 다루기 힘든, 빈틈없는
adv. - 몹시, 매우

日本語 (Japanese)
adv. - きわめて

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) خطر, خطير, محنك, داهيه (ظرف) كثير, جدا‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮מסוכן, קשה‬
adv. - ‮לגמרי‬

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