different between peril vs difficulty

English

Etymology

From Middle English peril, from Old French peril, from Latin per?culum. Doublet of periculum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p???l/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /?p???l/
• Rhymes: -???l, -???l

Noun

peril (countable and uncountable, plural perils)

1. A situation of serious and immediate danger.
2. Something that causes, contains, or presents danger.

   The perils of the jungle (animals and insects, weather, etc)

3. (insurance) An event which causes a loss, or the risk of a specific such event.

Synonyms

• danger, hazard, jeopardy, risk, threat, wathe
• See also Thesaurus:danger

Derived terms

• yellow peril
• imperil

Related terms

• perilous

Translations

Verb

peril (third-person singular simple present perils, present participle periling or perilling, simple past and past participle periled or perilled)

1. (transitive) To cause to be in danger; to imperil; to risk. [from 16th c.]
   • 1830, Robert Hayne, Speech in the United States Senate:

     And are we, Mr. President, who stood by our country then, who threw open our coffers, who bared our bosoms, who freely perilled all in that conflict, to be reproached with want of attachment to the Union?

   • 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. XIV:

     "I will have nothing to do with this matter, whatever it is. Do you think I am going to peril my reputation for you?"

Anagrams

• piler, plier, prile

Middle English

Alternative forms

• perile, periil, perel, peryle, pereyl, parelle, peryl, perell, perill, parell, pereil

Etymology

From Old French peril, from Latin per?culum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?ril/, /p??ri?l/, /?p?r?l/, /?par?l/

Noun

peril (plural perilles)

1. Danger, risk, peril; something that is potentially harmful or risky:
   1. A location where danger, risk, or peril is present or likely.
   2. A thing or enterprise which creates peril; anything which creates or which is of peril.
   3. Sinfulness; religious threat or danger.
2. (Late Middle English) Bad fortune; unluckiness or mischance.

Related terms

• perilous
• perilously

Descendants

• English: peril
• Scots: peril

References

• “per??l, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-15.

Old French

Etymology

From Latin per?culum.

Noun

peril m (oblique plural periz or perilz, nominative singular periz or perilz, nominative plural peril)

1. peril; hazard; danger

Descendants

• ? Middle English: peril
  • English: peril
  • Scots: peril
• French: péril
• Norman: péthi (Jersey)

English

Etymology

From Middle English difficultee, from Old French difficulté, from Latin difficultas, from difficul, older form of difficilis (“hard to do, difficult”), from dis- + facilis (“easy”); see difficile and difficult. Equivalent to dis- +? facile +? -ty. Also analysable as difficult +? -y, though the adjective is historically a backformation from the noun.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?f?k?lti/

Noun

difficulty (countable and uncountable, plural difficulties)

1. The state of being difficult, or hard to do.
2. An obstacle that hinders achievement of a goal.
3. (sometimes in the plural) Physical danger from the environment, especially with risk of drowning
   • 2012 August 2, "Children rescued after getting into difficulties in Donegal" BBC Online
   • 2016 March 30, Alan Thompson, "Diver taken to hospital after getting into difficulties at Stoney Cove diving centre" Leicester Mercury
   • 2016 February 24, Catherine Shanahan, "Boy, 13, drowns after getting into difficulty in river" Irish Examiner

     The three teenagers, a girl and two boys, were playing by the river when it is believed they got into difficulty.

   • 2016 March 14, "Kayaker rescued after getting into difficulty" Bournemouth Echo

     Members of the public had called 999 as they were concerned the kayaker was in difficulty around the headland race due to very strong spring tides and choppy seas with the kayaker making no headway.

   • 2016 March 19, Neil Shaw "Teens rescued from Dartmoor after getting into difficulty" Plymouth Herald

     A group of young people had to be rescued from Dartmoor on Friday night after getting into difficulty during a Duke of Edinburgh exercise. […] A 16-year-old girl required medical attention and a medic was winched down to the site by helicopter.

4. An objection.
5. That which cannot be easily understood or believed.
6. An awkward situation or quarrel.

Derived terms

• difficulty level
• with difficulty

Related terms

• difficile
• difficult

Translations

Further reading

• difficulty in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• difficulty in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.