dangerous
adjUK /ˈdeɪn.ʒ(ə.)ɹəs/ · CA, US /ˈdeɪn.d͡ʒ(ə.)ɹəs/
Etymology From Middle English dangerous (“difficult, severe, domineering, arrogant, fraught with danger”), daungerous, from Anglo-Norman [Term?], from Old French dangereus (“threatening, difficult”), from dangier. Equivalent to danger + -ous. Displaced native Old English frēcne.
1
Full of danger.
- Railway crossings without gates are highly dangerous.
- [I]t is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
1 more example
- Young Indians looking for work opportunities have made up a sizeable portion of undocumented migrants in the US, many after making the dangerous trek through Latin America to reach the US southern border.2025 February 7, Esha Mitra, Aishwarya S Iyer and Ross Adkin, “‘Treated like criminals’: Shackling of Indians aboard 40-hour migrant flight sparks new outrage against Trump”, in CNN:
2
Causing danger; ready to do harm or injury.
- If they incline to think you dangerous, / They have their knaviſh Arts to make you ſo.1696, Tho[mas] Southerne, Oroonoko: A Tragedy […], London: […] H[enry] Playford […]; B[enjamin] Tooke […]; [a]nd S. Buckley […], →OCLC, act III, scene ii, page 41:
- And the Duke thought: The truth could be worse than he imagines, but even dangerous facts are valuable if you’ve been trained to deal with them. And there’s one place where nothing has been spared for my son—dealing with dangerous facts.1965 October 1, Frank Herbert, “Book I: Dune”, in Dune, Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Book Company; [Toronto], Ont.: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 42:
3
Colloquial, Dated In a condition of danger, as from illness; threatened with death.
- Synonyms
- dangerous, dangersome, hazardous, jeopardous, wicked, parlous, periculous, perilous, precarious, risky, unsafe
- Antonyms
- safe, secure, unhazardous
- Derived terms
- a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, a little learning is a dangerous thing, armed and dangerous, dangerosity, Dangerous Corner, dangerous goods, dangerousness, nondangerous, semidangerous, undangerous
- Related terms
- danger, dangerously, harmful, threatening, treacherous, endanger