Meaning & use

parlous

adjective·Advanced

Full of danger or uncertainty; precarious, especially describing a difficult situation.

See it in a sentence

The company's parlous financial state left its future genuinely in doubt.

Historians describe the kingdom's parlous condition in the years before the war.

A note on using this word

Parlous is a literary or slightly archaic word, now used mostly for dramatic or formal effect.

Words with a similar meaning

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

securestable

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