hazard: Meaning and Definition of

haz•ard

1. an unavoidable danger or risk, even though often foreseeable: The job was full of hazards.
2. something causing unavoidable danger, peril, risk, or difficulty: the many hazards of the big city.
3. the absence or lack of predictability; chance; uncertainty: There is an element of hazard in the execution of the most painstaking plans.
4. a bunker, sand trap, or the like, constituting an obstacle.
5. the uncertainty of the result in throwing a die.
6. a game played with two dice, an earlier and more complicated form of craps.
7. any of the winning openings.
8. (in English billiards) a stroke by which the player pockets the object ballor his or her own ball after contact with another ball
9. at risk; at stake; subject to chance: His reputation was at hazard in his new ventures.

1. to offer (a statement, conjecture, etc.) with the possibility of facing criticism, disapproval, failure, or the like; venture: He hazarded a guess, with trepidation, as to her motives in writing the article.
2. to put to the risk of being lost; expose to risk: In making the investment, he hazarded all his savings.
3. to take or run the risk of (a misfortune, penalty, etc.): Thieves hazard arrest.
4. to venture upon (anything of doubtful issue): to hazard a dangerous encounter.