DANGEROUS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dangerous mean? 

• DANGEROUS (adjective)
  The adjective DANGEROUS has 2 senses:

1. involving or causing danger or risk; liable to hurt or harm

2. causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm

  Familiarity information: DANGEROUS used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DANGEROUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Involving or causing danger or risk; liable to hurt or harm

Synonyms:

dangerous; unsafe

Context example:

unemployment reached dangerous proportions

Similar:

breakneck (moving at very high speed)

chanceful; chancy; dicey; dodgy (of uncertain outcome; especially fraught with risk)

desperate ((of persons) dangerously reckless or violent as from urgency or despair)

hazardous; risky; wild (involving risk or danger)

insidious (intended to entrap)

mordacious (biting or given to biting)

on the hook (caught in a difficult or dangerous situation)

parlous; perilous; precarious; touch-and-go (fraught with danger)

self-destructive; suicidal (dangerous to yourself or your interests)

treacherous; unreliable (dangerously unstable and unpredictable)

Also:

insecure; unsafe (lacking in security or safety)

vulnerable (susceptible to attack)

Antonym:

safe (free from danger or the risk of harm)

Derivation:

danger (a dangerous place)

danger (a cause of pain or injury or loss)

dangerousness (the quality of not being safe)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm

Synonyms:

dangerous; grave; grievous; life-threatening; serious; severe

Context example:

a life-threatening disease

Similar:

critical (being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency)

Derivation:

dangerousness (the quality of not being safe)

 Context examples 

A new report from the National Toxicology Program (NTP) suggests that traffic-related air pollution increases a pregnant woman’s risk for dangerous increases in blood pressure, known as hypertension.

(Pregnancy hypertension risk increased by traffic-related air pollution, National Institutes of Health)

We don't know yet whether they are dangerous for us or not.

(Health threats caused by mobile phone radiation, EUROPARL TV)

Nut allergy sufferers are at greater risk of a dangerous reaction if they have not slept well or have taken strenuous exercise.

(Poor Sleep, Lack of Exercise Increase Risk of Nut Allergy, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This lasted for many years, when an unknown huntsman announced himself to the king as seeking a situation, and offered to go into the dangerous forest.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The country here is rich and pleasant, but you must pass through rough and dangerous places before you reach the end of your journey.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Together, the results suggest that drugs that inhibit Top1 may help control dangerous inflammatory responses.

(Drug might help treat sepsis, NIH)

Researchers claim to have found a particular type of cancer cell that is more dangerous than others, and it might be at the origin of how cancer spreads and grows.

(‘Energetic Cancer Cells’ May Be Origin of Cancer Spread, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

In Africa, where zebras evolved, flies can carry dangerous blood-borne pathogens.

(Zebra stripes may 'dazzle' pathogen-packing horse flies, Wikinews)

Meckel syndrome is a ciliopathy so dangerous that babies with the genetic defect rarely make it to term.

(Protein critical to cilia development, NIH)

However, it has previously used electricity at very high voltages that could be dangerous to human skin.

(Scientists Develop Spray Gun to Paint Bandages onto Wounds, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)