hazard

American  

[haz-erd] / ˈhæz ərd /

noun

1. an unavoidable danger or risk, even though often foreseeable.

   The job was full of hazards.

   Antonyms:

   safety

2. something causing unavoidable danger, peril, risk, or difficulty.

   The many hazards of the big city did nothing to convince her to leave.

3. the absence or lack of predictability; chance; uncertainty.

   There is an element of hazard in the execution of the most painstaking plans.

   Synonyms:

   fortuitousness, fortuity, accident

4. Golf. a bunker, sand trap, or the like, constituting an obstacle.

5. the uncertainty of the result in throwing a die.

6. a game played with two dice, an earlier and more complicated form of craps.

7. Court Tennis. any of the winning openings.

8. (in English billiards) a stroke by which the player pockets the object ball winning hazard or their own ball after contact with another ball losing hazard.

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verb (used with object)

1. to offer (a statement, conjecture, etc.) with the possibility of facing criticism, disapproval, failure, or the like; venture.

   He hazarded a guess, with trepidation, as to her motives in writing the article.

2. to put to the risk of being lost; expose to risk.

   In making the investment, he hazarded all his savings.

   Synonyms:

   imperil, peril, endanger, stake

3. to take or run the risk of (a misfortune, penalty, etc.).

   Thieves hazard arrest.

4. to venture upon (anything of doubtful issue).

   to hazard a dangerous encounter.

idioms

1. at hazard, at risk; at stake; subject to chance.

   His reputation was at hazard in his new ventures.

hazard British  

/ ˈhæzəd /

noun

1. exposure or vulnerability to injury, loss, evil, etc

2. at risk; in danger

3. a thing likely to cause injury, etc

4. golf an obstacle such as a bunker, a road, rough, water, etc

5. chance; accident (esp in the phrase by hazard )

6. a gambling game played with two dice

7. real tennis

   1. the receiver's side of the court

   2. one of the winning openings

8. billiards a scoring stroke made either when a ball other than the striker's is pocketed ( winning hazard ) or the striker's cue ball itself ( losing hazard )

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verb

1. to chance or risk

2. to venture (an opinion, guess, etc)

3. to expose to danger

Related Words

See danger.

Other Word Forms

• hazard-free
  adjective
• hazardable
  adjective
• hazarder
  noun
• hazardless
  adjective
• prehazard
  adjective
• unhazarded
  adjective
• unhazarding
  adjective
• well-hazarded
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of hazard

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English hasard from Old French, perhaps from Arabic al-zahr “the die”

Explanation

If something is a hazard, it is a potential source of danger. Balloons are fun, but they're a hazard for little kids who might put them in their mouths. If you play miniature golf, you have to watch for hazards on the course — obstacles like the sand trap beside the dinosaur or the water hazard just past the windmill. As a verb, hazard means to take a risk, especially for the chance of a good return. You might hazard your chances at the roulette table or hazard a guess — that is, risk making a guess when you aren't certain.

Example Sentences

Twelve years before, during his 1988 presidential campaign, Jackson had packed 1,000 people into a Hazard, Kentucky, gymnasium and talked about the “false face of poverty” that had taken hold in American politics and media.

From Salon • Feb. 19, 2026

But Gary Cahill and Eden Hazard scored to get Jamie Vardy and his Leicester team-mates' party started as tempers flared in the second half of a match dubbed the 'Battle of the Bridge'.

From BBC • Dec. 15, 2025

Hazard ratio analysis indicated that treated males were nearly three times less likely to die at any moment compared to untreated controls.

From Science Daily • Dec. 2, 2025

Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board isn’t fully funded or staffed, as is now the case — a situation that has worried some locals and environmental groups.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 8, 2025

Now he’s one of Edward James Olmos’s best friends and was in the documentary we watched called Lives in Hazard.

From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers

Related Words

• accident
• mishap
• possibility
• risk