hazard

[ haz-erd ]

noun

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.

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.

   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.

hazard

/ ˈhæzəd /

noun

1. exposure or vulnerability to injury, loss, evil, etc
2. at hazard
   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 )

verb

1. to chance or risk
2. to venture (an opinion, guess, etc)
3. to expose to danger

Derived Forms

• ˈhazard-ˌfree, adjective
• ˈhazardable, adjective

Other Words From

• 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of hazard¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of hazard¹

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

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

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

   His reputation was at hazard in his new ventures.

Synonym Study

See danger.

Example Sentences

Instead food was the biggest hazard.

From BBC

Large hail and squally winds will also be a hazard.

From BBC

However, windy and dry conditions were forecast to pick up again in the evening and on Tuesday, again posing a hazard.

From Los Angeles Times

"We need to avoid what I call super-spreader events. When these things explode or something collides with them, it generates thousands of pieces of debris that then become a hazard to something else that we care about."

From BBC

The program, part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s hazard mitigation assistance grants, provides one of the first long-term solutions for residents in the landslide-ravaged region, which has for decades gone through periods of increased land movement — though the scale and speed of the movement in recent months has been unprecedented.

From Los Angeles Times