dicey
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Adjective Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dicey
Explanation
Something that's dicey is unpredictable — and it may even be risky or downright dangerous. Bringing up controversial subjects like politics at Thanksgiving dinner with your relatives can be dicey. If you fix your motorcycle yourself, you may feel like it's a pretty dicey vehicle for riding on the highway, and when you're not at all sure how you did on your biology final, you might say, "Phew, that was dicey." Dicey is an informal word that comes from the idea of the unknown outcome of "a roll of the dice," from aviator's jargon around 1940.
Vocabulary lists containing dicey
This Week in Words: April 7- 13, 2018
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Uh-Oh: Synonyms for "Dangerous"
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"Blocking the Transmission of Violence" by Alex Kotlowitz
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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.
See Examples For:
Last week, we asked you to tell us about your biggest money mistakes — and you opened up about everything from dicey stock-market bets to spending habits that got out of control.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 7, 2026
Brian Katulis, a former national security official under both Democrat and Republican administrations, said Trump's threats came in the context of a "very dicey moment for the international order".
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2026
That’s dicey if you have a carry-on because the bins may be full.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2025
As “Game of Thrones” fans might attest, once the TV series outpaces the source material, things can get dicey.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2025
They fill their mind and hands with soap and repair and dicey confrontations because what is waiting for them, in a suddenly idle moment, is the seep of rage.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
That would make its cash flow issue even dicier, though.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
But the uncertainty about when this war will end, and what it will continue to do to oil prices, makes it a dicier proposition to try and time a bottom.
From Barron's ● Mar. 21, 2026
But Mitchell did step in during some of Wuthering Heights' dicier scenes to make sure the star was safe.
From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2026
You don’t really want to hit a guardrail with a vehicle like that, but electrification can make things even dicier.
From Slate ● Feb. 6, 2024
Surely if plagiarism can ever be said “digito monstrari et dicier hic est,” it is here.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 55, No. 344, June, 1844 by Various
Nor will Sir Keir’s diciest moments politically over the coming months necessarily all be a result of big tax and spend decisions he makes.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2024
But the diciest bit may have been an extended riff about Down Syndrome, beginning with Gillis saying that he is sometimes mistaken for having it based on his appearance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2024
Steward, 56, had one of the diciest gigs in all of Trump World.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 30, 2020
This isn’t any kind of journalism, not even the diciest variety of supermarket tabloidism.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 8, 2019
But Clement’s diciest moment came when Justice Elena Kagan faced him down.
From Slate ● Mar. 27, 2013
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.
