different between momentous vs perilous

English

Etymology

From moment +? -ous.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /m???m?n.t?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /mo??m?n.t?s/
• Rhymes: -?nt?s

Adjective

momentous (comparative more momentous, superlative most momentous)

1. Outstanding in importance, of great consequence.
   • 1725, Daniel Defoe, Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business:

     The reason why I did not publish this book till the end of the last sessions of parliament was, because I did not care to interfere with more momentous affairs.

   • 1831, James Fenimore Cooper, Homeward Bound, ch. 31:

     "It has been a momentous month, and I hope we shall all retain healthful recollections of it as long as we live."

   • 1902, Joseph Conrad, The End of the Tether, ch. 3:

     What to the other parties was merely the sale of a ship was to him a momentous event involving a radically new view of existence.

   • 2007 July 1, Richard Dawkins, "Inferior Design," New York Times (retrieved 19 Nov 2013):

     Natural selection is arguably the most momentous idea ever to occur to a human mind, because it — alone as far as we know — explains the elegant illusion of design that pervades the living kingdoms and explains, in passing, us.

Derived terms

• momentously
• momentousness

Translations

Anagrams

• mesonotum

English

Alternative forms

• perelles (obsolete)
• perillous (archaic)
• perlous (obsolete)
• per'lous (poetic)

Etymology

From Middle English perilous, from Old French perilleus, from the noun peril, or from Latin per?cul?sus. Doublet of periculous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p??.?.l?s/, /p??.l?.?s/

Adjective

perilous (comparative more perilous, superlative most perilous)

1. Dangerous, full of peril.

Derived terms

• perilously

Related terms

Translations

Middle English

Alternative forms

• perillous, perelous, perlious, pereilous, perlous, perylous, perylus, periluse

Etymology

From Old French perilleus, from Latin per?cul?sus; equivalent to peril +? -ous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?r(i)lu?s/, /?par(i)lu?s/

Adjective

perilous (plural and weak singular perilouse, superlative perilousest)

1. Full of danger or peril; dangerous, harmful, periculous:
   1. Fatal, mortal; potentially resulting in death.
   2. Scary, frightening; inducing horror and psychological damage.
   3. (Late Middle English) Religiously harmful or hurtful
   4. (Late Middle English) Unfortunate; experiencing bad luck.

Descendants

• English: perilous, parlous
• Scots: perilous (obsolete)

References

• “peril?us, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-15.