jeopardize
verb
Did you know?
Jeopardize Has a Controversial History
Imagine you’re a contestant on a game show, and your task is to provide a question as a response to this statement from the host: “This word was once controversial, and in 1870 a grammarian called it ‘a foolish and intolerable word,’ a view shared by many 19th-century critics.” If you answered, “What is jeopardize?,” you might be going home with some money! The preferred word back then was jeopard, which first appeared in print in the 14th century. The upstart jeopardize didn’t arrive until the late 16th century, and took a while to catch on. In 1828, Noah Webster himself declared jeopardize to be “a modern word, used by respectable writers in America, but synonymous with jeopard, and therefore useless.” Unfortunately for the champions of jeopard, increased usage of jeopardize ultimately put the former word in jeopardy. Jeopard is now only rarely heard.
Examples of jeopardize in a Sentence
David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 June 2025
The Trump administration has also been jeopardizing critical Arctic alliances.
—Michael Albertus, Foreign Affairs, 24 June 2025
Issues with the Texas Commission on Jail Standards’ processes and data maintenance jeopardized its ability to determine if county jails comply with minimum standards, according to a state auditor’s report published last week.
—Cody Copeland, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 June 2025
The residue from earlier high tide lines — wrack lines, as they are called — sits just outside some of the fencing around the nest, even pushing through it in spots, jeopardizing the habitat these birds need to breed.
—Jan Ellen Spiegel, Hartford Courant, 23 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for jeopardize
Cite this Entry
“Jeopardize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jeopardize. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.
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