Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases by Peter Mark Roget

venture, precariousness, slipperiness; instability &c 149; defenselessness &c adj., exposure &c (liability) 177; vulnerability; vulnerable point, heel of Achilles†; forlorn hope &c (hopelessness) 859. [Dangerous course] leap in the dark &c (rashness) 863; road to ruin, faciles descensus Averni [Lat.] [Vergil], hairbreadth escape. cause for alarm; source of danger &c 667. rock ahead [Approach of danger], breakers ahead; storm brewing; clouds in the horizon, clouds gathering; warning &c 668; alarm &c 669. [Sense of danger] apprehension &c 860. V. be in danger &c adj.; be exposed to danger, run into danger, incur danger, encounter danger &c n.; run a risk; lay oneself open to &c (liability) 177; lean on a broken reed, trust to a broken reed; feel the ground sliding from under one, have to run for it; have the chances against one, have the odds against one, face long odds; be in deep trouble, be between a rock and a hard place. hang by a thread, totter; sleep on a volcano, stand on a volcano; sit on a barrel of gunpowder, live in a glass house. bring in danger, place in danger, put in danger, place in jeopardy, put in jeopardy &c n.; endanger, expose to danger, imperil; jeopard†, jeopardize; compromise; sail too near the wind &c (rash) 863. adventure, risk, hazard, venture, stake, set at hazard; run the gauntlet &c (dare) 861; engage in a forlorn hope. threaten danger &c 909; run one hard; lay a trap for &c (deceive) 545. Adj. in danger &c n.; endangered &c v.; fraught with danger; dangerous, hazardous, perilous, parlous, periculous†; unsafe, unprotected &c (safe, protect) &c 664; insecure. untrustworthy; built upon.sand, on a sandy basis; wildcat. defenseless, fenceless, guardless†, harborless; unshielded; vulnerable, expugnable†, exposed; open to &c (liable) 177. aux abois [Fr.], at bay; on the wrong side of the wall, on a lee shore, on the rocks. at stake, in question; precarious, critical, ticklish; slippery, slippy; hanging by a thread &c v.; with a halter round one's neck; between the hammer and the anvil, between Scylla and Charybdis, between a rock and a hard place, between the devil and the deep blue sea, between two fires; on the edge of a precipice, on the brink of a precipice, on the verge of a precipice, on the edge of a volcano; in the lion's den, on slippery ground, under fire; not out of the wood. unwarned, unadmonished, unadvised, unprepared &c 674; off one's guard &c (inexpectant) 508 [Obs.]. tottering; unstable, unsteady; shaky, top-heavy, tumbledown, ramshackle, crumbling, waterlogged; helpless, guideless†; in a bad way; reduced to the last extremity, at the last extremity; trembling in the balance; nodding to its fall &c (destruction) 162. threatening &c 909; ominous, illomened; alarming &c (fear) 860; explosive. adventurous &c (rash) 863, (bold) 861. Phr. incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim [Lat.]; nam tua res agitur paries dum proximus ardet [Lat.].