adjective
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involving great risk
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depending on chance
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of hazardous
Explanation
The noun "hazard" means something dangerous, and the adjective hazardous refers to anything that involves danger. A golf course with lots of sand traps is especially hazardous for golfers. That's why those traps are called hazards. If your car blows a tire in the middle of the night, make sure to turn on your hazard lights. Being invisible to other drivers is hazardous to everyone, especially yourself. Life is, by definition, hazardous. It's full of dangers, both obvious and otherwise. Acknowledge that fact and keep going anyway. If you spend all your time focusing on what's hazardous, you end up missing all the wonderful things in life.
Vocabulary lists containing hazardous
"The Banana Tree," Vocabulary from the short story
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Divergent
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List 7
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Tests revealed the water is contaminated with nitrate, which can come from fertilizer, animal manure or human sewage, and 1,2,3-trichloropropane, a hazardous chemical that was widely used in pesticides years ago.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
The updated permit has also allowed the site to temporarily store and move some hazardous and clinical waste, though these materials will not be burned at the energy recovery facility.
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026
“This case is about what made that crisis preventable — and about accountability for families left to carry the cost of someone else’s failure to safely maintain hazardous chemicals next door to their neighborhoods.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026
We are in a cycle where instant success is expected, and that has made things even more hazardous.
From BBC • May 26, 2026
It was hazardous, but it was the only way to traverse an area both as Negro and white.
From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
