parlous
Syllables: parl·ous/ˈpɑːləs/US/ˈpɑɹləs/
parlous adjective: attended with peril; dangerous, risky.
Adjective
parlous (comparative more parlous, superlative most parlous)
- Attended with peril; dangerous, risky.
- 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.1593, Gabriell Haruey [i.e., Gabriel Harvey], Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, Intituled Nashes S. Fame, London: […] Iohn Wolfe...
- Synonyms:
- dangerous, dangersome, hazardous, hot, jeopardous, wicked, forbidding, periculous, perilous, precarious
- Appalling, dire, terrible.
- 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.]; […]1520, Thomas Worthyngton, “No. LXXV”, in William Brown, editor, Yorkshire Star Chamber Proceedings (The Yorkshire Archæological Society Record Series; LI), volume III, [Leeds, West Yorkshire]: […]...
- Dangerously clever or cunning; also, remarkably good or unusual.
- A parlous Boy: go too, you are too ſhrew'd.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- [O]h their parlous fellows, they will ſearch more with their wits than a Cunſtable with all his officers.1607, W. S. [attributed to Thomas Middleton or William Shakespeare (doubtful)], The Pvritaine. Or The VViddovv of Watling-streete. […], imprinted at London: By G[eorge] Eld, →OCLC, Act III
Adverb
parlous (not comparable)
- Extremely, very.
- [L]ast week I had a distinctly unpleasant experience, and came parlous near qualifying as a beachcomber. [...] I cast round, trying one or two charming little hotels within reasonable radius, only to find the "house full" boards up everywhere.1919 August 6, Gerald Biss, “A Warning to Tourists: Shortage of Hotel Room”, in Bruce Ingram, editor, The Sketch, volume CVII, number 1384, London: Illustrated London News & Sketch, →OCLC, page 210
parlous meaning in Malayalam
parlous in Malayalam
- dreadful, bad, dire
- സന്ദിഗ്ദ്ധമായ, ഭദ്രമല്ലാത്ത, ചീത്ത, കു, ദുഷിച്ച, ഘോര
Examples of parlous in a sentence
- The safest way in such a parlous doubt, / Is steady watch and keep a sharp look out.1807 December, C[harles] Lamb, “Epilogue to Time’s a Tell-tale”, in The Literary Panorama. Being a Review of Books, Magazine of Varieties...
- The preſent panges and parlous thoughts, / That pearceth troubled minds: / Is knowne to none but ſuch I ſay, / That lacke of freedome finds.1593, [Thomas] Churchyard, “A Dollfvll Discovrse of a Great Lord and a Ladie. […]”, in Chvrchyards Challenge, London: […] John Wolfe...
- Thou haſt a parlous judgement; but let that paſſe, / She is as truly vertuous, faire, and noble, / As her great Mother's good; and that's not ordinary.c. 1619–1623, John Fletcher, “Women Pleas’d”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley...
- During these suppers McCluskey's conversation centred almost exclusively around the parlous moral, cultural and environmental state of the planet.2014, Ben Elton, chapter 11, in Time and Time Again, London: Black Swan, Transworld Publishers, published 2015, →ISBN, page 106:
Synonyms of parlous
Forms of parlous
| comparative | more parlous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most parlous |
Origin of parlous
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).
Words formed from parlous
Words that rhyme with parlous
Questions about parlous
- What does parlous mean?
- Parlous means attended with peril; dangerous, risky.
- What is parlous in Malayalam?
- Parlous in Malayalam is സന്ദിഗ്ദ്ധമായ, ഭദ്രമല്ലാത്ത, ചീത്ത. See Parlous meaning in Malayalam.
- How do you use parlous in a sentence?
- The safest way in such a parlous doubt, / Is steady watch and keep a sharp look out.
- What part of speech is parlous?
- Parlous can be an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce parlous?
- Parlous is pronounced /ˈpɑːləs/ (UK).
Words near parlous in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: parlous (page history and authors); parlous (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-parlous.oga.
Cite this entry: “parlous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/parlous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.