hazard

noun

haz·ard | \ ˈha-zərd

Definition of hazard

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : a source of danger hazards on the roadway

2a : the effect of unpredictable and unanalyzable forces in determining events : chance, risk the hazards involved in owning your own business men and women danced together, women danced together, men danced together, as hazard had brought them together— Charles Dickens

b : a chance event : accident looked like a fugitive, who had escaped from something in clothes caught up at hazard— Willa Cather

3 : a golf-course obstacle (such as a bunker or a pond)

4 : a game of chance like craps played with two dice

5 obsolete : stake sense 3a

at hazard

: at stake

hazard

verb

hazarded; hazarding; hazards

Definition of hazard (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

: to offer or present at a risk : venture hazard a guess as to the outcome

Synonyms Did You Know? More Example Sentences Learn More about hazard

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Did You Know?

At first hazard was a game of chance played with dice. The English word comes from medieval French, in which the game was called hasard. This French word was probably borrowed from Arabic az-zahr, meaning “the dice” or “one of the dice.” The game was borrowed from the French by the English, and within a few centuries what had been a chance taken on the outcome of a throw of the dice could be any venture or risk. Now “chance” or “venture” and “risk” or “peril” are the usual meanings of hazard. The verb hazard emerged in the 16th century.

Examples of hazard in a Sentence

Noun

the tumbledown old barn was considered a fire hazard it was only by hazard and good fortune that we found our way back to the trail

Verb

His friend asked him to hazard a small sum in a business venture. just so the tourists could see the sea lions up close, the captain needlessly hazarded his ship

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

In hockey, even the slow drizzle or misty mornings that permeate our outdoors in non-summer months can wreak serious havoc on ice surfaces and pose a safety hazard to players. — Geoff Baker, The Seattle Times, "Outdoor NHL game in Seattle? As good a chance as the new team being named ‘Kraken’," 14 Jan. 2019 The one thing that is very clear from the video: Oakland police officers knew the conditions inside the warehouse posed a fire hazard. — CBS News, ""Like a fireplace": New video shows "worried" cops a year before Ghost Ship fire," 30 Apr. 2018 Armed robbery has been a long-running problem in Zamfara's gold mining communities where artisanal mining poses environmental and health hazards to residents. — Bukola Adebayo, CNN, "Gunmen kill 26 in Nigeria's Zamfara state," 13 Apr. 2018 Police at Gatwick were pictured armed with shotguns, which present less of a safety hazard than rifles but are only effective at close range. — David Hambling, Popular Mechanics, "What Are Airports Going to Do About Drones?," 9 Jan. 2019 Fortunately, this one landed in the ocean just next to the intended landing site, and the now floating booster apparently poses no safety hazards, according to the Emergency Management Office in Brevard County, where Cape Canaveral is located. — Loren Grush, The Verge, "For the first time ever, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fails to stick a ground landing," 5 Dec. 2018 The fire risk has flown under the radar for a long time, but now there is a national effort to make people aware of this surprising fire hazard. — Melissa Locker, Southern Living, "WATCH: Here’s the Reason You Should Never Leave A Bottle of Water in Your Car," 22 June 2018 Once the seed of the purported bear hazard was planted, stories nourished it. — Aaron Gilbreath, Longreads, "Small-Town New Hampshire’s Battle with Bears and Liberty," 5 June 2018 For the burn tests, the plan lays out the goals of identifying any oil properties that seem to affect the severity of a hazard, and then creating a list of ways that this analysis should change how crude oil is tested. — Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic, "The Great Crude-Oil Fireball Test," 5 Feb. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Government agencies, including the FBI, CIA, and NSA, declined to hazard a guess, or, indeed, to offer any comment at all. — Popular Mechanics, "How Many Spies Are Currently Living in the U.S.?," 14 May 2017 In those 30 days, Hurley and Adams spoke and texted countless times, too many for either to hazard a guess. — Dom Amore, courant.com, "UConn Men: Dan Hurley's Brutal Honesty, Tough Love, Resonates With Jalen Adams," 20 June 2018 The greatest ongoing hazard stems from the lava flows and the hot, toxic gases spewing from open fissure vents close to homes and critical infrastructure, said Charles Mandeville of the U.S. Geological Survey's volcano hazards program. — CBS News, "Hawaii lava flow ramps up as new magma mixes with old," 20 May 2018 Researchers have hazarded several theories for what happened in Havana. — Josh Chin, WSJ, "U.S. Evacuates Workers From China After Complaints of Mystery Illness," 7 June 2018 The greatest ongoing hazard stems from the lava flows and the hot, toxic gases spewing from open fissure vents close to homes and critical infrastructure, said Charles Mandeville of the U.S. Geological Survey's volcano hazards program. — CBS News, "Hawaii lava flow ramps up as new magma mixes with old," 20 May 2018 The greatest ongoing hazard stems from the lava flows and the hot, toxic gases spewing from open fissure vents close to homes and critical infrastructure, said Charles Mandeville of the U.S. Geological Survey's volcano hazards program. — Fox News, "Hawaii officials warn residents about latest lava flow," 19 May 2018 Benson is accused of negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and hazarding a vessel, and recently waived his right to an Article 32 hearing, a public airing of the facts that had been scheduled for May 21 at the Washington Navy Yard. — Dan Lamothe, Washington Post, "Navy ‘callous’ in how it describes deadly USS Fitzgerald collision, attorneys allege," 16 May 2018 The greatest ongoing hazard stems from the lava flows and the hot, toxic gases spewing from open fissure vents close to homes and critical infrastructure, said Charles Mandeville of the U.S. Geological Survey's volcano hazards program. — CBS News, "Hawaii lava flow ramps up as new magma mixes with old," 20 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hazard.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.