to put one's head in the lion's mouth/ to enter in the lion's den
Explanation:
Everything you always wanted to know about 'danger' but never dared to ask:) :
Danger
Adjectives
1 dangerous
perilous, treacherous, hazardous, risky, beset with perils, fraught with danger, unknown, uncertain, unlit, venturous, venturesome, difficult, chancy, tricky, snaggy, speculative, crucial, critical, serious, nasty, ugly, menacing, threatening, ominous, foreboding, alarming, frightening, at the boiling point, at the flash point, at stake, in question, inflammable, flammable, explosive, radioactive, toxic, poisonous, life-threatening, deadly, harmful, unhealthy, infectious, unhygienic, sticky (Inf), dicey (Inf), dodgy (Inf), iffy (Inf), hairy (Inf), clutch (US inf)
See Chance; Uncertainty; Fear
2 unsafe
not safe, treacherous, untrustworthy, unreliable, doubtful, shaky, slippery, insecure, unsecure, unsound, precarious, unbalanced, unsteady, unstable, tottering, top-heavy, tumbledown, ramshackle, dilapidated, rickety, frail, falling to pieces, crumbling, condemned, jerry-built, shoddy, gimcrack, crazy, weak, built on sand, on shaky foundations, leaky, waterlogged, critical, delicate, ticklish, risky, heart-stopping, nerve-racking, touch and go, hanging by a thread, trembling in the balance, teetering on the edge, on the edge, on the brink, on the verge, last-second, last-minute, dicey, dicky (or dickey) (Inf)
See Deterioration; Weakness; Uncertainty
3 vulnerable
unprotected, undefended, not secure, in danger, not immune, liable, susceptible, open to, wide-open, exposed, naked, bare, uncovered, unarmoured, unfortified, expugnable, pregnable, helpless, at the whim of, at the mercy of, defenceless, unarmed, isolated, deserted, abandoned, stranded, left high and dry, out on a limb, unsupported, unshielded, shelterless, guideless, unattended, unguarded, unescorted, unshepherded, unflanked, unwarned, unaware, naive, not on guard, off one's guard, unprepared, unready
See Possibility; Powerlessness; Weakness; Undress
4 endangered
in danger, in peril, at risk, in jeopardy, in double jeopardy (US), slipping, drifting, on the rocks, in shallow water, on dangerous ground, on slippery ground, on thin ice, in a bad way, in a tight corner, in a bind, surrounded, trapped, at bay, cornered, with one's back to the wall, under siege, under fire, in the lion's den, thrown to the lions, on the razor's edge, in a catch-22 situation, caught both ways, between two fires, between two chairs, between the devil and the deep blue sea, between a rock and a hard place (US), between Scylla and Charybdis, on the run, not out of the wood, at the last stand, reduced to the last extremity, facing death, facing the firing squad, under sentence, condemned, with a noose round one's neck, awaiting execution, on death row (US), in a jam (Inf), in the soup (Inf), in the hot seat (Inf)
Nouns
1 danger
peril, jeopardy, risk, hazard, dangerousness, perilousness, riskiness, hazardousness, treacherousness, treachery, dangerous situation, unhealthy situation, biohazard, desperate situation, perilous state, parlous state (Lit), shadow of death, jaws of death, lion's mouth, dragon's lair, dire straits, predicament, emergency, urgency, crisis, insecurity, unsoundness, ticklishness, ticklish business, precariousness, slipperiness, shakiness, unsteadiness, uncertainty, acute dilemma, razor's edge, black spot, deathtrap, snag, pitfall, trap, surprise attack, ambush, endangerment, imperilment, hazarding, venturesomeness, daring, overdaring, rashness, gambling, venture, risky venture, dangerous course, leap in the dark, throw of the dice, spin of the wheel, turn of a card, slippery slope, road to ruin, impending disaster, sword of Damocles, menace, threat, sense of danger, apprehension, anxiety, nervousness, fear, narrow escape, hairbreadth escape, near tragedy, near miss, near thing (Inf), close shave (Inf)
See Chance; Difficulty; Undertaking; Trap; Attack; Escape; Uncertainty; Fear; Rashness; Concealment
2 danger signal
cause for alarm, night sounds, strange noise, gunshot, scream, sudden pain, snarling dog, ticking parcel, rocks ahead, breakers ahead, storm brewing, gathering storm, gathering clouds, thick fog, rising river, cloud on the horizon
See Warning
3 vulnerability
liability, susceptibility, nonimmunity, openness, exposure, nakedness, pregnability, helplessness, defencelessness, lack of protection, naivety, innocence, instability, insecurity, easy target, sitting target, exposed part, exposed flank, vulnerable point, undefended part, breach in the wall, chink in the armour, Achilles' heel, weakness, tender spot, soft spot, soft underbelly, unsoundness, failing, flaw, defect, imperfection, defect of character, human failing, feet of clay, tragic flaw, fatal flaw, sitting duck (or target) (Inf)
See Imperfection; Powerlessness; Weakness; Softness
Verbs
1 be in danger
run the risk of, run into danger, enter the lion's den, put one's head in the lion's mouth, ride a tiger, walk into a trap, tread on dangerous ground, be on slippery ground, skate on thin ice, be out of one's depth, sail close (or near) to the wind, play with fire, feel the ground slip away, feel the ground give way, be up against it, have to run for it, hang by a thread, tremble in the balance, hover on the brink, teeter on the edge, totter, slip, slide, tumble, fall, get lost, wander away, stray, go astray, play with dynamite (Inf), sit on a powder keg (Inf), sleep on a volcano (Inf), lean on a broken reed (Inf)
See Descent; Deviation
2 face danger
face death, take one's life in one's hands, expose oneself, lay oneself open to, stand in the breach, risk, defy, look danger in the face, look down a gun barrel, face heavy odds, have the odds (stacked) against one, have the deck (or cards) stacked against one, have one's back to the wall, engage in a forlorn hope, challenge fate, tempt fate, tempt providence, court disaster, take a tiger by the tail, put one's head in the lion's mouth, play Russian roulette, dice with death, run the gauntlet, come under fire, venture, dare, hazard, gamble, take a chance, take a flier (US), stick one's neck out
See Chance; Courage; Rashness; Defiance
3 endanger
expose to danger, put in danger, put at risk, put in jeopardy, put in double jeopardy (US), jeopardize, imperil, compromise, hazard, risk, stake, gamble, venture, drive headlong, run on the rocks, drive dangerously, drive recklessly, drive without due care and attention, put someone in fear of his (or her) life, threaten one's life, threaten danger, loom, forebode, bode ill, menace, intimidate, threaten, hold over one's head, run one hard, overtake, outdo
See Chance; Fear
Adverbs
1 dangerously
treacherously, perilously, hazardously, riskily, precariously, in the face of death, on the brink, naively, unawares, recklessly, rashly, ominously, threateningly, menacingly, vulnerably, helplessly, defencelessly
Bloomsbury Thesaurus, © Bloomsbury 1997
HTH
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