dangerous

[deyn-jer-uhs, deynj-ruhs]

adjective

1. full of danger danger or risk; causing danger; danger; perilous; risky; hazardous; unsafe.

2. able or likely to cause physical injury.

   a dangerous criminal.

dangerous

/ ˈdeɪndʒərəs /

adjective

1. causing danger; perilous

Other Word Forms

• dangerously adverb
• dangerousness noun
• nondangerous adjective
• nondangerously adverb
• nondangerousness noun
• quasi-dangerous adjective
• quasi-dangerously adverb
• semidangerous adjective
• semidangerously adverb
• semidangerousness noun
• undangerous adjective
• undangerously adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of dangerous¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English da(u)ngerous “domineering, fraught with danger,” from Old French dangereus “threatening, difficult,” equivalent to dangier ( danger ) + -eus -ous

Idioms and Phrases

see little knowledge is a dangerous thing; live dangerously.

Example Sentences

PIT manoeuvres sometimes result in the deaths of innocent bystanders, the federal government wrote in a 2023 report that urged officers to consider less dangerous pursuit techniques.

Read more on BBC

Joe Burgess - playing his first England game in 10 years - conceded a knock-on to turn over possession in a dangerous area, although replays showed he may have been stripped in the tackle.

Read more on BBC

Whether acknowledged overtly or not, Yale has, in fact, adopted a policy of institutional neutrality — and the committee’s deliberate efforts to evade being accused of doing so are dangerous.

Read more on Salon

"And it is much more dangerous because a lot of the times children hide it - so parents don't know."

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Antimony stopped mining the material at its Mexico holdings, in part because cartels made operating there too dangerous.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• alarming 
• bad 
• critical 
• deadly 
• fatal 
• nasty 
• perilous 
• precarious 
• risky 
• serious 
• terrible 
• threatening 
• treacherous 
• ugly 
• unhealthy 
• unsafe 
• unstable