risk
Pluralrisks (some meanings)
Pluralrisks (some meanings)
- 1The probability that a decision or event leads to a negative outcome.
Investors weigh the risk before committing large sums of money.
Higher speeds increase the risk of a serious crash.
UsageUsually the risk of + a noun or -ing form: the risk of a crash, the risk of losing. You raise or reduce it.
Similarchance, likelihood, probability, possibility
Oppositesafety
- 2A possible event or outcome that could cause harm or loss.
The report listed several risks the new factory might face.
Losing your deposit is a risk you take when renting.
UsageOften the risks of something (the risks of smoking). Run the risk of + -ing means doing something that might bring that harm.
Note
Macaulay's History of England names one such threat and then counts it as a risk: "the imminent and constant risk of assassination, a risk which has shaken very strong nerves." Danger, peril and hazard are close substitutes.
- 3Something regarded as dangerous according to how likely it is to cause harm.
Loose handrails were flagged as a safety risk during the inspection.
Unvaccinated travelers can be a health risk to others.
UsageUsually with a word in front: a health risk, a fire risk, a safety risk. Say a risk to others.
Note
Stairs can be a risk, and so can a man about to leave prison. The narrower trade meanings for borrowers, investments and insured property all grow from this way of sorting things by their danger.
- 4A step or undertaking that could end badly but is taken on anyway, despite the chance of harm or loss.
Opening a second restaurant during a recession was a calculated risk that paid off.
The coach took a risk by starting a rookie in the championship game.
UsageYou take a risk or take risks (not
incorrect: make a risk). A calculated risk is one weighed in advance. - 5To expose someone or something valued to the possibility of harm or loss.
Soldiers risk their lives in every deployment.
She risked her reputation by speaking out against the company.
UsageCommon phrases: risk your life, risk everything. On names the gamble: risk your savings on a bet.
Similarjeopardize, endanger, gamble, stake, imperil
- 6To act in a way that could bring about an unwanted or harmful outcome.
By skipping the inspection, they risked serious damage to the engine.
Drivers who text risk a costly accident.
UsageThe object is the bad result: risk injury, risk a fine. Compare risk your life, where the object is what you could lose.
- 7To go ahead with a particular action, often named with an -ing form as in "risk going out in the storm", even though doing it could bring danger on yourself.
She risked driving through the blizzard to reach the hospital.
Hikers who risk crossing the ridge in bad weather endanger rescuers too.
UsageThe action follows as an -ing form: risk crossing, risk driving (not
incorrect: risk to cross).Note
The construction also has a mild, self-deprecating use. Lynn Tibbets, writing about an album in Gay Community News (1979), says "I will risk suggesting folk-rock." She is hedging an opinion, not facing any danger, and the pattern lets a writer sound tentative without saying so outright.
- 8The potential negative effect of an event, found by multiplying its likelihood by its magnitude should it occur.
Safety analysts express risk as probability times severity.
Even a rare hazard carries significant risk when the consequences are catastrophic.
Note
Here risk is a calculation rather than a feeling: it combines the probability meaning and the size-of-loss meaning into one figure. A 25% chance of losing $100 carries a risk of $25. A 5% chance of a $10,000 penalty carries $500, so the rarer event is the greater risk.
- 9The amount that could be lost if a decision or event goes badly, measured by how big the loss would be rather than by how likely it is.
Because the cargo was priceless, the risk on that single voyage was immense.
Insuring a skyscraper carries far greater risk than insuring a shed.
Similarexposure
Note
Here the measure is how much stands to be lost, not how likely the loss is. R. Packer's The Politics of BSE (2006) keeps the two apart in one phrase, "a small chance of a big risk," where chance carries the probability and risk carries the size. Size words such as big and immense can point to this meaning, but context decides, since a greater risk often just means a higher chance, as in the probability sense.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Richard Packer wrote The Politics of BSE. link.springer.com
- The book was first published in 2006. link.springer.com
- The book contains the exact phrase 'a small chance of a big risk'. en.wiktionary.org
- These adjectives do not distinguish the meanings by themselves. The cited questionnaire uses 'greater risk' for a greater chance of developing cancer. epi.grants.cancer.gov
Less common meanings
- 10A person, business, or thing judged by how likely it is to cause a loss to a lender, insurer, or investor.
The bank classified him as a poor credit risk after the missed payments.
With a steady job and years of on-time payments, she was seen by the bank as a low risk.
UsageUsually with an adjective: a good risk, a high risk, a low risk, a poor credit risk.
Note
Lenders judge people the way inspectors judge stairs: a borrower becomes a risk, rated by how likely repayment is. Investors and insurers use the same pattern for businesses, investments, and property.
- 11A category of adverse event that an insurance policy provides coverage against.
The policy treats theft and fire as separate risks.
The contract lists every covered risk, from fire and lightning to theft and burst pipes.
Similarperil
Note
Insurance has its own vocabulary of misfortune, and in it a risk is a named kind of loss, such as fire, theft or liability. A policy may list the risks it covers or cover every risk it does not exclude, and the price reflects how often and how badly they strike. Peril and hazard sit close beside it, and peril is its nearest equivalent. Keep it apart from the insured party, which underwriters also call a risk.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Named-peril policies list covered perils; open-peril policies cover perils unless explicitly excluded. content.naic.org
- Insurance pricing takes account of loss frequency and severity. files.gao.gov
Showing meanings only.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of risk apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
English first had risque, taken from Middle French risque, which came from Old Italian risco ("risk") and rischiare ("to run into danger"); the word pushed out the native Old English pleoh. Where the Italian words came from is uncertain: one idea is a Vulgar Latin word meaning "that which cuts, rock, crag" (a danger to shipping), another an Ancient Greek word for "cliff" or "hazard," and some trace them through Byzantine Greek to Arabic رِزْق (rizq, "sustenance, that which God allots").