occupational hazard

American

noun

a danger or hazard to workers that is inherent in a particular occupation.

Silicosis is an occupational hazard of miners.

Etymology

Origin of occupational hazard

First recorded in 1950–55

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.

After the eye strain, the greatest occupational hazard of being a TV critic is people asking what’s good on television.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2025

Comedian Ronnie Barker stars as Norman Stanley Fletcher, "an habitual criminal who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard" serving time for an unspecified crime in the fictional HMP Slade.

From BBC • Sep. 4, 2024

Splashes of rain making the ink run was an occupational hazard that is retrospectively laughable.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 3, 2023

A degree of paranoia and conspiratorial thinking can be seen as an occupational hazard for lawyers.

From Slate • Jul. 30, 2023

Resolving the operational problems of late 1935 introduced a new occupational hazard for the Rad Lab staff: tedium.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023