hazard
Americannoun
-
an unavoidable danger or risk, even though often foreseeable.
The job was full of hazards.
- Antonyms:
- safety
-
something causing unavoidable danger, peril, risk, or difficulty.
The many hazards of the big city did nothing to convince her to leave.
-
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
-
Golf. a bunker, sand trap, or the like, constituting an obstacle.
-
the uncertainty of the result in throwing a die.
-
a game played with two dice, an earlier and more complicated form of craps.
-
Court Tennis. any of the winning openings.
-
(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)
-
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.
-
to put to the risk of being lost; expose to risk.
In making the investment, he hazarded all his savings.
-
to take or run the risk of (a misfortune, penalty, etc.).
Thieves hazard arrest.
-
to venture upon (anything of doubtful issue).
to hazard a dangerous encounter.
idioms
noun
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exposure or vulnerability to injury, loss, evil, etc
-
at risk; in danger
-
a thing likely to cause injury, etc
-
golf an obstacle such as a bunker, a road, rough, water, etc
-
chance; accident (esp in the phrase by hazard )
-
a gambling game played with two dice
-
real tennis
-
the receiver's side of the court
-
one of the winning openings
-
-
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
-
to chance or risk
-
to venture (an opinion, guess, etc)
-
to expose to danger
Synonym Usage
See danger.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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hazardernoun
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hazard-freeadjective
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hazardableadjective
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hazardlessadjective
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prehazardadjective
-
unhazardedadjective
-
unhazardingadjective
-
well-hazardedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hazardsimple
-
hazardssimple
-
have hazardedperfect
-
has hazardedperfect
-
am hazardingprogressive
-
are hazardingprogressive
-
is hazardingprogressive
-
have been hazardingperfect progressive
-
has been hazardingperfect progressive
Past
-
hazardedsimple
-
had hazardedperfect
-
was hazardingprogressive
-
were hazardingprogressive
-
had been hazardingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing hazard
"Remarks at the Dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center," Vocabulary from the speech
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Earth Science - Middle School
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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:
To become jaded is an occupational hazard when you’ve reviewed 2,000 movies, but I was genuinely excited to see Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
None of the economists and labor-market experts interviewed by MarketWatch would hazard a guess.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026
An "unforgettable" tribute to America, or a health hazard that will terrorize animals and pollute the environment?
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
Austria is the first race this year to be declared a heat hazard, amid a heatwave across Europe that is establishing record temperatures in many countries, including the UK.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
Today we are concerned with a different kind of hazard that lurks in our environment — a hazard we ourselves have introduced into our world as our modern way of life has evolved.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
In the second season, the staff has to deal with the hazards of a July 4 holiday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
“Environmental hazards from industrial disasters too often fall on communities like Boyle Heights,” Bass said in the statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
It is, of course, one of the hazards of playing an outdoor sport with start times spread across a day.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
Orbital debris and micrometeorites are hazards because they can puncture the space data center, and a worst-case collision could destroy it and create even more space debris.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026
Dr. W. C. Hueper of the National Cancer Institute has warned that “the danger of cancer hazards from the consumption of contaminated drinking water will grow considerably within the foreseeable future.”
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
I hazarded a number of guesses as to where the movement, and more importantly the reaction to it, was headed.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2022
Edward Holmes does not like making predictions, but last year he hazarded a few.
From Science Magazine ● Aug. 19, 2021
Watching “The Goldfinch,” I found myself fantasizing about one of the possible audacities that the movie, absent Theo’s unifying voice, could have hazarded.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 18, 2019
McKinsey hazarded a guess: anywhere between $75 billion and $100 billion a year, or between 15 and 20 percent of the Pentagon’s annual expenses.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 5, 2016
I hazarded as I unwrapped my first PB Cup.
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
Borinsky invites guesses; the problem is that we might not care enough for any of the people or ideas onstage to bother hazarding them.
From New York Times ● Mar. 5, 2023
Seaman Recruit Ryan Sawyer Mays was found not guilty of arson and hazarding a vessel for the devastating fire that broke out aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 30, 2022
In August, Seaman Apprentice Ryan Mays was charged with aggravated arson and the willful hazarding of a vessel.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 19, 2021
Scott Waddle, was instead found guilty of dereliction of duty and negligent hazarding at an administrative hearing known as an admiral’s mast, and allowed to retire with full benefits.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 17, 2018
I feared early instilled prejudice: I wanted to have you safe before hazarding confidences.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
