# hazard

Pronunciation: US say "HAZ-urd" /ˈhæzɚd/; UK/AUS say "HAZ-uhd" /ˈhæzəd/

## Noun

1. The possibility of suffering harm or loss; danger or peril.
   - Simple: The chance that something harmful or dangerous could happen to you.
   - _Sailors of the age accepted constant hazard as part of life at sea._
   - _The investors weighed the hazard of losing their entire stake._
2. An obstacle or other feature that creates a risk of harm, whether on a sports field or in everyday surroundings.
   - Simple: Something that could cause harm or danger, like a slippery floor or a sharp edge.
   - _The crumbling guardrail was a serious hazard to drivers on the mountain road._
   - _Inspectors flagged the exposed wiring as a dangerous hazard._
5. A sand bunker or water feature on a golf course that obstructs play.
   - Simple: A sand pit or pool of water on a golf course that makes play harder.
   - _She laid up short to avoid the hazard guarding the eighteenth green._
   - _A well-placed hazard forces golfers to choose between risk and caution._
6. An obstacle or road feature that creates enough risk to justify a driver taking action to avoid it.
   - Simple: Something on the road, like a parked car or a child, that a driver must slow down or steer to avoid.
   - _Defensive drivers scan the road constantly for any developing hazard._
   - _A pedestrian stepping off the curb counts as a hazard requiring an immediate response._
7. A problem in a CPU's instruction pipeline where the next instruction cannot execute in the following clock cycle, possibly causing incorrect results.
   - Simple: A problem in a computer chip when the next step cannot run in time, which can cause wrong results.
   - _The compiler inserts a stall to resolve the hazard before the result is needed._
   - _Pipeline designers add forwarding logic to avoid each hazard between dependent instructions._
8. In billiards, the act of potting a ball: either the object ball, called a winning hazard, or the player's own ball, a losing hazard.
   - Simple: In billiards, the act of knocking a ball into a pocket, either the target ball or your own.
   - _The player completed the break with a precise hazard off the red._
   - _An accidental hazard sent his own ball into the pocket, costing him points._
9. A game of chance played with dice, usually for money, popular mainly from the 14th to the 19th century.
   - Simple: An old dice game played for money, popular long ago.
   - _The gentlemen gathered around the table for a night of hazard._
   - _She watched her brother lose his inheritance at hazard._
10. Chance; the play of fortune or accident in how things turn out.
   - Simple: Pure chance or luck, with no plan behind it.
   - _By mere hazard, the two travelers chose the same inn._
   - _She trusted nothing to hazard, planning every detail in advance._
11. In court tennis, also called real tennis, the half of the court that receives the serve.
   - Simple: In tennis, the side of the court where the served ball lands.
   - _A good serve drops sharply into the corner of the hazard._
   - _He moved up to defend the hazard after serving._

## Verb

3. To put something at risk; to venture, incur, or bring it on.
   - Simple: To risk something, or to put it in danger by what you do.
   - _She refused to hazard her reputation on an unproven claim._
   - _Few investors will hazard large sums during a downturn._
4. To expose something to chance; to take a risk or venture a guess.
   - Simple: To take a risk, or to offer a guess that might be wrong.
   - _Let me hazard a guess at what caused the delay._
   - _Critics hazard predictions about the election every week._

## Noun

12. Anything that is risked or staked, such as a bet placed in gambling. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Something put at risk, such as money bet in a game.
   - _She doubled her hazard, certain the next card would favor her._
   - _The players matched each other's hazard before the final throw._

## Origin

From Middle English 'hasard', from Old French 'hasart' (a game of dice) and its verb 'hasarder', which came from the Arabic 'az-zahr' (the dice). It is related to Spanish 'azar' and Portuguese 'azar'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/hazard (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).