hazard

American  

[haz-erd] / ˈhæz ərd /

noun

• hazards
  plural

1. an unavoidable danger or risk, even though often foreseeable.

   The job was full of hazards.

   Antonyms:

   safety

2. something causing unavoidable danger, peril, risk, or difficulty.

   The many hazards of the big city did nothing to convince her to leave.

3. 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

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

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

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

7. Court Tennis. any of the winning openings.

8. (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.

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verb (used with object)

• hazards,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hazarded,
  past participle,  past
• hazarding
  present participle

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.

   Synonyms:

   imperil, peril, endanger, stake

3. to take or run the risk of (a misfortune, penalty, etc.).

   Thieves hazard arrest.

4. to venture upon (anything of doubtful issue).

   to hazard a dangerous encounter.

idioms

1. at hazard, at risk; at stake; subject to chance.

   His reputation was at hazard in his new ventures.

hazard British  

/ ˈhæzəd /

noun

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

2. at risk; in danger

3. a thing likely to cause injury, etc

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

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

6. a gambling game played with two dice

7. real tennis

   1. the receiver's side of the court

   2. one of the winning openings

8. 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 )

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verb

1. to chance or risk

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

3. to expose to danger

Synonym Usage

See danger.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• hazarder
  noun
• hazard-free
  adjective
• hazardable
  adjective
• hazardless
  adjective
• prehazard
  adjective
• unhazarded
  adjective
• unhazarding
  adjective
• well-hazarded
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hazards
  plural

Participles

• hazarding
  present
• hazarded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• hazard
  simple
• hazards
  simple
• have hazarded
  perfect
• has hazarded
  perfect
• am hazarding
  progressive
• are hazarding
  progressive
• is hazarding
  progressive
• have been hazarding
  perfect progressive
• has been hazarding
  perfect progressive

Past

• hazarded
  simple
• had hazarded
  perfect
• was hazarding
  progressive
• were hazarding
  progressive
• had been hazarding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will hazard
  simple
• will have hazarded
  perfect
• will be hazarding
  progressive
• will have been hazarding
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hazard hazards hazarded hazarding

"You have to do hazard reduction burning to get the fuel level down, so that the fire cannot develop an intensity beyond what we are capable of dealing with," Fenwick says.

From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026

You don’t have to stick to Apple-branded cables and bricks, but you should know how to distinguish a good deal from a potential hazard.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

But navigating those crowded waters can bring a distinct financial hazard.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

None of the economists and labor-market experts interviewed by MarketWatch would hazard a guess.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026

As a result these Japanese beetle programs have caused shocking destruction of animal life and have exposed human beings to undeniable hazard.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

"But when you come down, come and be safe. Swim near an open lifeguard tower, check in with that lifeguard for current ocean conditions and what's going on in that area as far as hazards."

From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026

These can easily be deflected as hazards of the job.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

Manufacturers and their software partners use these internet-connected systems to help drivers—say, by warning about road hazards ahead.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

If he had amassed the same number of records, skateboard decks or vintage gaming consoles — all fire hazards — would he have gotten the same eviction warning?

From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026

The large tree roots are continuous hazards, forcing us to lift our knees and sidestep them.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

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

He hazarded that the onscreen manhunt was between seventy and eighty per cent as intense as the real thing.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 15, 2017

Brandt hazarded an estimate of double what the highest-paid quarterbacks currently make, which would put Brady’s annual salary somewhere around $46-50 million.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 26, 2017

“It’s like somebody’s twisting something inside me,” I hazarded.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

By 1858, the famous Butterfield stagecoaches were ferrying the mail through the cut over the pass, hazarding a vertiginous angle comparable with San Francisco’s Lombard Street, without the switchbacks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026

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

It presents those barriers outside of the structures that produce them, and without hazarding the organizational requirements to win a majority for the program its subjects support.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 9, 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

I feared early instilled prejudice: I wanted to have you safe before hazarding confidences.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Related Words

• accident
• mishap
• possibility
• risk