Hazard

/ˈhæzəd/ · noun

Meaning

The chance of suffering harm; danger, peril, risk of loss..

Definitions by Sense

1. The chance of suffering harm; danger, peril, risk of loss.
2. An obstacle or other feature which causes risk or danger; originally in sports, and now applied more generally.
3. (in driving a vehicle) An obstacle or other feature that presents a risk or danger that justifies the driver in taking action to avoid it.
4. (golf) A sand or water obstacle on a golf course.
5. (billiards) The act of potting a ball, whether the object ball (winning hazard) or the player's ball (losing hazard).
6. (historical) A game of chance played with dice, usually for monetary stakes; popular mainly from 14th c. to 19th c.
7. Chance.
8. (obsolete) Anything that is hazarded or risked, such as a stake in gambling.

Example Sentences

He encountered the enemy at the hazard of his reputation and life.

Men are led on from one stage of life to another in a condition of the utmost hazard.

Why, now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark! The storm is up and all is on the hazard.

He then launched forth into a panegyric on Allworthy's goodness; into the highest encomiums on his friendship; and concluded by saying, he should never forgive his brother for having put the place which he bore in that friendship to a hazard.

If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the ever more expensive and then universally known killing hazards of gasoline cars: […].

Quite apart from the gruesome road hazards, snow is awful even when you don't have to travel.

The video game involves guiding a character on a skateboard past all kinds of hazards.

Risk behavior in driving consists in hazard detection, threat appraisal, action selection and implementation. Hazard perception tests often include the task to react quickly to hazards within traffic scenarios.

Synonyms for hazard

Antonyms for hazard

Related Words

Word Forms

• hazards
• hazarding
• hazarded

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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