risky

adjective

ˈri-skē

riskier; riskiest

Synonyms of risky next

: attended with risk or danger : hazardous

riskiness noun

Choose the Right Synonym for risky

dangerous, hazardous, precarious, perilous, risky mean bringing or involving the chance of loss or injury.

dangerous applies to something that may cause harm or loss unless dealt with carefully.

soldiers on a dangerous mission

hazardous implies great and continuous risk of harm or failure.

claims that smoking is hazardous to your health

precarious suggests both insecurity and uncertainty.

earned a precarious living by gambling

perilous strongly implies the immediacy of danger.

perilous mountain roads

risky often applies to a known and accepted danger.

shied away from risky investments

Examples of risky in a Sentence

Her plan is too risky.

Recent Examples on the Web That’s a delicate and sometimes risky dance because too much involvement of government officials may do away with citizen initiative status and require the ballot measure to reach a two-thirds majority. —

Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Sep. 2023 The new treatments are risky enough that most are done in the hospital. —

Globe Columnist, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Sep. 2023 But establishing a corridor secure enough for a regular flow of cargo vessels from Ukraine’s seaports is risky, not least because the Black Sea has become an increasingly critical theater in the war. —

Vivek Shankar, New York Times, 17 Sep. 2023 Trusting this Titans team to put together a winning performance is risky at best. —

Jeff Miller, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2023 Finding, finally, the answer in this ventriloquism: unexpected, risky; reaching for and grasping that balloon. —

Lynn Steger Strong, The New Republic, 15 Sep. 2023 That means you’re faced with watching your purchasing power dwindle—or trying to make up the difference by taking on extra risk, investing in much riskier assets like stocks. —

Steve Garmhausen, wsj.com, 15 Sep. 2023 Microsoft has endorsed the licensing approach, for instance, while IBM prefers rules that govern the deployment of specific risky uses of AI rather than the technology itself. —

Mary Clare Jalonick and Matt O'Brien, Chicago Tribune, 13 Sep. 2023 In response, the United States considered risky escalatory actions. —

Dominic Tierney, Foreign Affairs, 11 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'risky.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.