Definition of hazmat
: a material (such as flammable or poisonous material) that would be a danger to life or to the environment if released without precautions
What's Trending Now
More Trending Words
hazmat was our Word of the Day on 01/03/2007. Hear the podcast!
Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP
Recent Examples of hazmat from the Web
-
Rather than utilizing a typical stage setup, the camera panned over Rocky laying in a bed while wearing a hazmat jumpsuit.
-
Technicians in hazmat suits, breathing through respirators, sliced off the top of the four-foot steel tank and removed the solvent, thought to be left from a former dry-cleaning business.
-
Interstate 10 has reopened west of Katy after an early-morning truck crash and hazmat spill shut down all westbound lanes Thursday, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
-
The clinic won't reopen until a hazmat remediation company can clean it up and the city's building department deems it safe.
-
The sight of the soldiers, and forensic experts in bright yellow hazmat suits, added to the increasingly surreal scenes in a city best known for its towering medieval cathedral and its proximity to the ancient Stonehenge monument.
-
The movie opens with a biologist, Lena (Natalie Portman), being questioned by a man in a hazmat suit.
-
Workers in hazmat suits use shopping carts to help block the worst of the tangle from the intakes.
-
Nearby, in Gecko’s drying rooms, counterculturalists got dressed in what looked like hazmat suits.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hazmat.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
The origin of "hazmat" is clear enough - it was formed by combining the first three letters of each of two words: "hazardous" and "material." The word hazmat is fairly young, first appearing in print in 1980. Although it is a noun, "hazmat" tends to be used attributively, meaning that it often appears in sentences before another noun as if it were performing the duties of an adjective (as in "hazmat team" and "hazmat worker").
Origin and Etymology of hazmat
Medical Dictionary
hazmat
medical Definition of hazmat
: a material (as radioactive, flammable, explosive, or poisonous material) that would be a danger to life or to the environment if released without necessary precautions being taken
- toxic waste hauled away by workers in hazmat suits
- —Tom Spousta
- hazmat storage
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up hazmat? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
