parlous state

Raymond Chandlerの小説は面白いのですが、俗語が多くて厄介なのでしばらくChandlerはお休みにして、Michael Sandel教授の本、３年前に２冊読みました、でまだ読んでいない "What Money Can't Buy" が図書館にあったので読むことにしました。
Disillusion with politics has deepened as citizens grow frustrarte with a political system unable to act for the public good, or to address the questions that matter most.
This parlous state of public discourse is the second obstacle to a debate about the moral limits of markets.
"parlous state" は良くない状態には違いありませんがどの程度なのでしょうか？　"parlous" を辞書で見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Full of danger or uncertainty; precarious: the parlous state of the economy: The railways emerged in a parlous state, in dire need of a major overhaul.
・Vocabulary.com: Parlous is an adjective that means "dangerous," such as the parlous car trip with a new driver behind the wheel!
The first syllable in parlous rhymes with far and is accented: "PAR-less." It means dangerous -- something that is parlous might carry the risk or threat of harm, like a parlous experience of being in a boat during a rainstorm. Parlous and perilous are synonyms. In fact, parlous is a shortened version, or contraction, of perilous that came about in the late 14th century.
そうですか。"perilous" を連想すれば良いので簡単に覚えられそうです。