All words

jeopardize

Meaning

To put someone or something into a situation where there is a risk of loss, harm, or failure.

Examples by difficulty

Basic: Simple, everyday vocabulary — the easiest to read.

He knew his little lie could jeopardize everything. His family's trust, his job, his home, all could be lost if his secret came out. The thought of failing them made his stomach ache with fear.

The storm raged, threatening to tear down the flimsy shelter. If the wind ripped through the canvas, it would jeopardize their only protection from the freezing rain, leaving them exposed to the biting cold. Their survival depended on holding on.

He knew stealing the glow lichen would jeopardize the bioluminescent cave's delicate ecosystem. If the fungus died, the whole cavern would go dark, and the rare cave crickets that depended on it for food would surely fail to survive the coming cold.

Dave's attempt to juggle flaming pineapples for the talent show could seriously jeopardize his eyebrows, not to mention the stage curtains. If he drops even one, the whole performance will be a fiery mess, risking a very smelly and unsuccessful end to his act.

Barry the badger's plan to juggle flaming rubber chickens was going swimmingly until he tried to balance a teacup on his nose. He didn't want to jeopardize his performance, but the teacup wobbled, threatening to spill hot cocoa all over the audience of bewildered squirrels.

Normal: Standard, everyday language.

His reckless spending began to jeopardize our family's savings. I worried every night that we'd lose our home. He was putting everything we had worked for at risk of complete failure.

The rogue quantum entangled particle threatened to jeopardize the delicate chronometric stabilization field, risking a temporal cascade that would unravel the entire research station's timeline. Failure meant not just losing their data, but potentially erasing their own existence from history.

Rushing the fermentation process for the bio-luminescent algae cultures could jeopardize weeks of research. If the delicate balance of nutrients and light isn't maintained, the entire colony could die, leading to a complete project failure and wasted resources.

Trying to juggle that giant, slippery watermelon and your toddler on a unicycle is a fantastic way to jeopardize a perfectly good afternoon. You're risking a splattered fruit disaster and a bruised ego, not to mention your little one's newfound fear of produce.

Barry the badger, whose prize-winning petunias were legendary, decided to train his pet ferret, Bartholomew, as a floral assistant. He figured Bartholomew's nimble paws would be perfect for delicate weeding. Unfortunately, Bartholomew’s definition of "weeding" involved enthusiastically unearthing entire root systems and relocating them to the compost bin, which was starting to jeopardize Barry's chances of winning the "Most Vibrant Blooms" award this year.

Advanced: Richer vocabulary that stretches an upper-level reader.

His reckless driving threatened to jeopardize their entire vacation. Every swerve and sudden acceleration made them fear for their safety and the costly repairs if they crashed, ruining their much-needed escape.

The tremors intensified, threatening to destabilize the delicate crystalline structures we'd cultivated for years. Any sudden movement, any unexpected sound, could jeopardize our entire research, turning months of painstaking work into useless dust. We held our breath, fearing the loss of everything.

The ancient terraforming drone, its power core critically low, threatened to jeopardize the entire colony's atmospheric integrity. If it failed, the delicate balance of breathable air would collapse, exposing everyone to the vacuum.

Bumbling Bartholomew, a famously inept pastry chef, would often jeopardize his delicate soufflés by attempting to juggle flaming pineapples mid-bake. His customers, bracing for sugary explosions or, worse, burnt offerings, nervously awaited the outcome, hoping their dessert wasn't about to become a smoldering, edible disaster.

Sir Reginald's quest to catalog every squirrel's existential angst threatened to jeopardize his expedition. He spent an entire afternoon meticulously documenting the gnawing anxieties of a particularly morose rodent, forgetting entirely about the rapidly approaching blizzard that could leave him utterly stranded amongst the pines, his tea biscuits undeniably ruined.

Challenging: Rare, high-register vocabulary for serious word lovers.

His clandestine meetings, undertaken without his partner's knowledge, began to jeopardize their entire future. Every whispered conversation and hurried departure risked exposing his deceit, potentially leading to immense financial and emotional ruin for them both.

The reckless acquisition of the archaic astrolabe, a relic of dubious provenance, could jeopardize the entire expedition's funding. Their precarious fiscal standing meant any misstep, any spectral anomaly or undiscovered terrestrial hazard, threatened to dismantle years of meticulous research and salvage their reputations.

His clandestine experiments with chroniton particles, though promising unprecedented advancements in temporal mechanics, would undeniably jeopardize the very fabric of causality. The potential for creating paradoxical feedback loops, cascading through history, threatened to obliterate existence itself, a grim prospect for humanity’s continued survival.

Fearing his flamboyant toupee would jeopardize his clandestine rendezvous with a renowned perfumer, Bartholomew donned a voluminous sombrero. He thus risked a catastrophic wardrobe malfunction, potentially exposing his follicular artifice to the fickle whims of the Parisian breeze.

The esteemed mycologist, Dr. Throckmorton, meticulously cataloged his prized collection of bioluminescent fungi, a passion he'd nurtured since his precocious youth. However, a sudden, errant gust from his anachronistic pneumatic tuba threatened to jeopardize years of delicate spore cultivation, risking utter fungal disarray.

Difficulty

Normal — Everyday words worth reinforcing.

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