adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dangerous
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English da(u)ngerous “domineering, fraught with danger,” from Old French dangereus “threatening, difficult,” equivalent to dangier ( see danger) + -eus -ous
Explanation
Use the word dangerous to describe anything that can potentially cause serious harm, like a snarling pit bull or an icy, treacherous road. The earliest meaning of the word dangerous was "difficult or arrogant." When Geoffrey Chaucer wrote "The Canterbury Tales" in the 1300s, he used dangerous to mean "hard to please." Gradually the meaning changed, so that by the late fifteenth century, dangerous meant "liable to cause hurt" or "risky." Just as popular were two other danger-related words that we don't use anymore today: dangersome and dangerful, which at the time could be used interchangeably with dangerous.
Vocabulary lists containing dangerous
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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.
About one-third would likely consist of footage already shot, including performances from the 1990s Dangerous tour and the 2000s Invincible tour, Fogelson and King said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026
And in a class titled “Free Speech and Dangerous Ideas,” where exclusively controversial topics are discussed, the professor turned the microphone over to his students and didn’t interfere once, according to Chancellor Daniel Diermeier.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 16, 2025
The 27-year-old pop star brought her Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things tour to Pasadena on Friday night for the first of two shows.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 14, 2025
A first album, released in 1985, Dangerous Music, and single Heartline was seemingly well-received.
From BBC • Jul. 27, 2025
Dangerous as they could be to me, somehow, they did not seem as threatening as the dark shadowy woods with its strange sounds, its unknowns.
From "Kindred" by Octavia Butler
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.
