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risk definition

risk (risk)

noun

  1. the chance of injury, damage, or loss; dangerous chance; hazard
  2. Insurance
    1. the chance of loss
    2. the degree of probability of loss
    3. the amount of possible loss to the insuring company
    4. a person or thing with reference to the risk involved in providing insurance
    5. the type of loss that a policy covers, as fire, storm, etc.

Etymology: Fr risque < It risco, risico < risicare, to risk < VL *risicare

transitive verb

  1. to expose to the chance of injury, damage, or loss; hazard to risk one's life
  2. to incur the risk of to risk a fight

Etymology: Fr risquer

Related Forms:

risk Idioms

at risk

in danger of damage, injury, loss, etc.

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:

business risk definition - business

finance risk definition - finance

hacker Risk definition - hacker

idioms risk idiom

law risk definition - legal

medical risk definition - medical

risk Synonyms

risk

n.

  1. Danger

    hazard, peril, jeopardy; see danger.

  2. The basis of a chance

    chance, gamble, venture, good risk, fortuity, contingency, opportunity, prospect; see also chance 1, uncertainty 3. See syn. study at danger.

run a risk

take a chance, gamble, venture; see chance 2, risk.


risk

v.

chance, gamble, gamble on, venture, hazard, imperil, endanger, jeopardize, run the risk, take a chance, trust to chance, do at one's own peril, expose oneself to, lay oneself open to, stick one's neck out, take the liberty, defy danger, speculate, make an investment, hang by a thread, play with fire, carry too much sail, go out of one's depth, beard the lion in his den, bell the cat, double the blind, sit on a barrel of gunpowder, go through fire and water, leap before one looks, take a leap in the dark, throw caution to the wind, fish in troubled waters, skate on thin ice, sleep on a volcano, live in a glass house, go to sea in a sieve, sail too near the wind, buck the tiger; see also chance 2.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

risk Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • reduce: A drug called warfarin is also commonly advised to reduce the risk of having a stroke.

Adjective modifier

  • increased: The main complication of AF is an increased risk of having a stroke.

Modifies a noun

  • assessment: Our Office Hazards package on our website offers good general advice on carrying out risk assessments.

Noun used with modifier

  • flood: The ABI welcomes the Government's continued commitment to managing flood risk, which has enabled the industry to make this commitment.

Preposition: of

  • cancer: Also, in the long term, sun exposure is known to increase the risk of skin cancer.

Preposition: from

  • flooding: Remember your home could be at risk from flooding.
risk usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

risk quotes

To be human at all† we must stand fast a littleöeven at the risk of being heroes.

-Bolt, Robert Oxton

Under a more heroic Minister, and in a less self-seeking age, it is probablethat England would have preferred the risk, whatever its extent, to the infamy of betraying an ally whom she had enticed into peril. But our Ministry is not heroic; and our generation, though not indifferent to glory, prefers it when it is safe and cheap.

-of Salisbury

Hesitation increases in relation to risk in equal proportion to age.

-Hemingway, Ernest Millar

risk quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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MLA Style

"risk." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/risk>

APA Style

risk. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/risk

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