Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Origin: perilous

parlous

 adjective
     
par‧lous formal
in a very bad or dangerous condition:
The country's police force was in a parlous state in 1990.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary