dangerous applies to something that may cause harm or loss unless dealt with carefully.
soldiers on a dangerous mission
hazardous implies great and continuous risk of harm or failure.
claims that smoking is hazardous to your health
precarious suggests both insecurity and uncertainty.
earned a precarious living by gambling
perilous strongly implies the immediacy of danger.
perilous mountain roads
risky often applies to a known and accepted danger.
shied away from risky investments
Examples of risky in a Sentence
Her plan is too risky.
Recent Examples on the WebThe criminal case against Mr. Weinstein had been viewed as fragile since the day it was filed, and prosecutors were believed to have taken risky, boundary-pushing bets to see it through.—Nicole Hong, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2024 But noncompetes make entrepreneurship more costly, more risky, and more penalizing for women.—Matt Marx, Fortune, 24 Apr. 2024 In a quieter, riskier moment, Malik and Eric lie on the floor of an empty apartment space and stare at the oppressive vault of the ceiling, willing it, in a hallucinatory reverie, into a starry vision of freedom.—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 22 Apr. 2024 Russia’s future forks: one path is a risky drift into a deeper Chinese embrace, the other an against-the-odds return to Europe.—Stephen Kotkin, Foreign Affairs, 18 Apr. 2024 This is her land, but planting anything here would be risky.—Eyder Peralta, NPR, 18 Apr. 2024 Last year, Netflix made a particularly risky bet by pushing users who share passwords to create their own accounts — but that paid off.—Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 18 Apr. 2024 Johnson’s risky plan led a second Republican to call for his resignation on Tuesday.—Nik Popli, TIME, 16 Apr. 2024 Nearly identical shares of voters also say both Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden would be a risky choice for the country.—Ruth Igielnik, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'risky.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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