hazard

[ haz-erd ]
See synonyms for hazard on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. an unavoidable danger or risk, even though often foreseeable: The job was full of hazards.

  2. something causing unavoidable danger, peril, risk, or difficulty: The many hazards of the big city did nothing to convince her to leave.

  1. the absence or lack of predictability; chance; uncertainty: There is an element of hazard in the execution of the most painstaking plans.

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

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

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

  5. Court Tennis. any of the winning openings.

  6. (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 ).

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.

  1. to take or run the risk of (a misfortune, penalty, etc.): Thieves hazard arrest.

  2. to venture upon (anything of doubtful issue): to hazard a dangerous encounter.

Idioms about hazard

  1. at hazard, at risk; at stake; subject to chance: His reputation was at hazard in his new ventures.

Origin of hazard

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English hasard from Old French, perhaps from Arabic al-zahr “the die”

synonym study For hazard

1. See danger.

Other words for hazard

Opposites for hazard

Other words from hazard

  • haz·ard·a·ble, adjective
  • haz·ard·er, noun
  • haz·ard·less, adjective
  • pre·haz·ard, adjective
  • un·haz·ard·ed, adjective
  • un·haz·ard·ing, adjective
  • well-haz·ard·ed, adjective

Words Nearby hazard

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hazard in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for hazard

hazard

/ (ˈhæzəd) /


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

  2. at hazard at risk; in danger

  1. a thing likely to cause injury, etc

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

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

  4. a gambling game played with two dice

  5. real tennis

    • the receiver's side of the court

    • one of the winning openings

  6. 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)

verb(tr)
  1. to chance or risk

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

  1. to expose to danger

Origin of hazard

1
C13: from Old French hasard, from Arabic az-zahr the die

Derived forms of hazard

  • hazardable, adjective
  • hazard-free, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012