hazard

1 of 2

noun

haz·​ard ˈha-zərd 

plural hazards

1

: a source of danger

hazards on the roadway

2

a

: 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

hazards plural : special lights on a vehicle that flash on and off and are used to warn other drivers (as when the vehicle is not working properly) : hazard lights

If you do break down or crash, immediately turn on your hazards.

—Shape

Drivers should also turn off their hazards when signaling to exit the highway.

—John Cichowski

4

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

5

: a game of chance like craps played with two dice

6

obsolete : stake sense 3a

hazard

2 of 2

verb

hazarded; hazarding; hazards

transitive verb

: to offer or present at a risk : venture

hazard a guess as to the outcome

Phrases

at hazard

: at stake

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.

Synonyms

Noun

• danger
• imminence
• menace
• peril
• pitfall
• risk
• threat
• trouble

Verb

• adventure
• compromise
• endanger
• gamble (with)
• imperil
• jeopard
• jeopardize
• menace
• peril
• risk
• venture

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

But for miners and other stone cutters, silica is a serious health hazard, and new rules announced on Tuesday by a U.S. government agency set strict limits on how much of the mineral they can be exposed to. —Annalisa Merelli, STAT, 16 Apr. 2024

The hazards of such pollutants have not been borne equally. —Ava Kofman, ProPublica, 16 Apr. 2024

Nine California counties — Butte, Glenn, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Sutter and Ventura — will receive federal aid as a result of the declaration, which also includes funding for statewide hazard mitigation efforts, officials said. —Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr. 2024

These gloves will protect you from these outdoor hazards. —Rachel Ahrnsen, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Apr. 2024

Thursday’s risks are lower than Wednesday’s, but all hazards will be possible for Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Tampa and other cities in Florida for the southern risk area and for Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, and Pittsburgh across the northern risk area. —Phil Helsel, NBC News, 10 Apr. 2024

And a climate of fear and recrimination has put Berlin’s status as an international cultural capital in greater hazard than at any time since 1989. —Jason Farago, New York Times, 6 Apr. 2024

Their lithium-ion batteries pose a fire hazard to equipment and MRF employees. —Claire Reid, Journal Sentinel, 5 Apr. 2024

Climate & Environment As climate hazards converge, more Californians are living in harm’s way Feb. 3, 2024 Ultimately, funding for the projects outlined in the report will come from taxpayers, whether at the municipal, state or federal level, Wiles said. —Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2024

Verb

Rebuilding Gaza may cost $15B just for housing, official says The enormous toll of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza won't be known until well after the war is over, but the chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund is willing to hazard a monetary guess: at least $15 billion. —John Bacon, USA TODAY, 17 Jan. 2024

Unfortunately, none of the officials present hazarded a launch date. —Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 23 June 2023

Still, newspapers had hazarded many guesses as to his real identity. —Teresa Nowakowski, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Oct. 2023

Goodman would not hazard a guess on the state of SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations, which began June 7. —Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 21 June 2023

Food inflation is already significant, noted Daniel Sumner, a professor of agricultural and resource economics at UC Davis, and now prices will rise more, though Sumner and other analysts said there were simply too many factors to hazard a guess on how much. —Kurtis Alexander, San Francisco Chronicle, 9 May 2023

Want to hazard a guess as to Trump’s lead over DeSantis (routinely second in these surveys)? —Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 20 Feb. 2023

Yi also hazards a few variations that are more systematic. —Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 17 Feb. 2023

Care to hazard a guess who picked which? —Joey Capparella, Car and Driver, 10 June 2022

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

Middle English, from Anglo-French hasard, from Old Spanish azar, from Arabic al-zahr the die

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 5

Verb

circa 1601, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing hazard

• at hazard
• hazard lights
• hazard pay
• moral hazard
• occupational hazard
• traffic hazard

Kids Definition

hazard

1 of 2 noun

haz·​ard ˈhaz-ərd 

1

: a game of chance played with two dice

2

: chance entry 1 sense 1, accident

3

: a source of danger

4

: an obstacle on a golf course

hazard

2 of 2 verb

: venture entry 1 sense 1, risk

hazard a guess

Etymology

Noun

Middle English hazard "game of chance," from early French hasard (same meaning), from Arabic az-zahr "the die (one of the dice)"

Word Origin

Hazard was at first a game of chance played with dice. The English word comes from an early form of French, in which the game was called hasard. This French word was probably borrowed during the time of the Crusades from Arabic az-zahr, meaning "the die (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.

Legal Definition

hazard

noun

haz·​ard ˈha-zərd 

: a condition that tends to create or increase the possibility of loss

—used especially in insurance law