hazard

[haz-erd]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hazard ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an unavoidable danger or risk, even though often foreseeable: The job was full of hazards.

something causing unavoidable danger, peril, risk, or difficulty: the many hazards of the big city.

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

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 his or her 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

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

Origin of hazard

1250–1300; Middle English hasard < Old French, perhaps < Arabic al-zahr the die

Related formshaz·ard·a·ble, adjectivehaz·ard·er, nounhaz·ard·less, adjectivepre·haz·ard, adjectiveun·haz·ard·ed, adjectiveun·haz·ard·ing, adjectivewell-haz·ard·ed, adjective

Synonyms for hazard

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hazard ON THESAURUS.COM

3. accident, fortuity, fortuitousness. 10. stake, endanger, peril, imperil.

Synonym study

1. See danger.

Antonyms for hazard

1. safety.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for hazard

peril, risk, threat, mishap, accident, possibility, endangerment, jeopardy, dynamite, misfortune, fling, coincidence, fluke, adventure, venture, go, wager, guess, jeopardize, presume

Examples from the Web for hazard

Contemporary Examples of hazard

The Hazard gang is a multi-generational gang based in the East Los Angeles area.
The Mexican Mafia Is the Daddy of All Street Gangs
Seth Ferranti
December 11, 2014
Hazard ratios were largest for benzodiazepines—the most commonly prescribed drug class.
Anti-Anxiety and Sleeping Pills Increase Risk of Death, New Study Reports
Brandy Zadrozny
April 1, 2014
The firefighters did not want the ambulatory passengers to chance onto an electrified rail or encounter some other hazard.
Amazing Grace in the Bronx: Inside the Metro-North Train-Wreck Rescue
Michael Daly
December 2, 2013
Also omitting smoking status and body mass index increases the hazard ratio to 1.20 (95 percent CI, 1.15–1.24).
No, Really, It's Possible That Health Insurance May Not Make Us Healthier
Megan McArdle
May 7, 2013
But Oceana residents have still found ways to inject the newer version, despite the hazard controls.
‘Oxyana’ Documentary at Tribeca Exposes the OxyContin Epidemic
Marlow Stern
April 23, 2013

Historical Examples of hazard

War was a game of hazard, in which the luck was always changing.
Stories from Thucydides
H. L. Havell
Games of address are not to be put upon a footing with games of hazard.'
Tales And Novels, Volume 3 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth
I'd suggest, at a hazard guess, some place in the interior of Pennsylvania.
The Fortune Hunter
Louis Joseph Vance
I soon determined that the good which appeared on the other was not worth this hazard.
Joseph Andrews, Vol. 2
Henry Fielding
Well, nothing venture, nothing have; I will brave the hazard!
Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British Dictionary definitions for hazard

hazard

noun

exposure or vulnerability to injury, loss, evil, etc

at hazard 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 (tr)

to chance or risk

to venture (an opinion, guess, etc)

to expose to danger

Derived Formshazardable, adjectivehazard-free, adjective

Word Origin for hazard

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

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

Word Origin and History for hazard

c.1300, from Old French hasard, hasart (12c.) "game of chance played with dice," possibly from Spanish azar "an unfortunate card or throw at dice," which is said to be from Arabic az-zahr (for al-zahr) "the die." But this is doubtful because of the absence of zahr in classical Arabic dictionaries. Klein suggests Arabic yasara "he played at dice;" Arabic -s- regularly becomes Spanish -z-. The -d was added in French in confusion with the native suffix -ard. Sense evolved in French to "chances in gambling," then "chances in life." In English, sense of "chance of loss or harm, risk" first recorded 1540s.

"put something at stake in a game of chance," 1520s, from Middle French hasarder "to play at gambling" (15c.), from hasard (see hazard (n.)). Related: Hazarded; hazarding.