endangered

Endangered means so few are left that the whole kind may soon vanish. An endangered species, critically endangered, the endangered list.

It is a defined category on the IUCN Red List, sitting between vulnerable and critically endangered, and the classification is based on population size, decline rate and range. It matters legally as well as descriptively, since protection often follows the listing. Note endangered language, used the same way of languages with few remaining speakers, of which there are hundreds.