dangerous

English

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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdeɪnʒ(ə)ɹəs/, /ˈdeɪnd͡ʒ(ə)ɹəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdeɪnd͡ʒəɹəs/, /ˈdeɪnd͡ʒɚəs/, /ˈdeɪnd͡ʒɚs/, /ˈdeɪnʒɹəs/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dan‧ger‧ous

Adjective

dangerous (comparative more dangerous, superlative most dangerous)

1. Full of danger.

   Railway crossings without gates are highly dangerous.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314, page 0029:

     “[…] it 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.”

2. Causing danger; ready to do harm or injury.
   • 1688, Aphra Behn, Oroonoko

     If they incline to think you dangerous / To less than gods

3. (colloquial, dated) In a condition of danger, as from illness; threatened with death.
4. (obsolete) Hard to suit; difficult to please.
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Freres Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], OCLC 230972125; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, OCLC 932884868:

     My wages ben fule straite, and eke full smale; / My lorde is harde to me and daungerous.

5. (obsolete) Reserved; not affable.
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Prologues”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], OCLC 230972125; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, OCLC 932884868:

     Of his speech daungerous

Usage notes

The standard comparative and superlative are more dangerous and most dangerous; the forms dangerouser and dangerousest or dangerest exist but are nonstandard.

Synonyms

(full of danger):

• hazardous
• perilous
• risky
• unsafe
• See also Thesaurus:dangerous

Antonyms

• (full of danger): safe, harmless

Derived terms

• dangerous goods

Related terms

• danger
• dangerously

Translations

full of danger

• Afar: please add this translation if you can
• Afrikaans: gevaarlik
• Albanian: i rrezikshëm
• Amharic: አደገኛ (ʾädägäña)
• Arabic: خَطِر‎ (ḵaṭir)

  Egyptian Arabic: خطير‎ (ḵaṭīr)

• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: վտանգավոր (hy) (vtangavor)
• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: peligrosu
• Aymara: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: təhlükəli
• Basque: arriskutsu
• Belarusian: небяспе́чны (njebjaspjéčny)
• Bengali: please add this translation if you can
• Breton: dañjerus (br)
• Bulgarian: опа́сен (bg) (opásen), риско́ван (bg) (riskóvan)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: perillós (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎦᏂᏰᎬ (ganiyegv), ᎦᎾᏰᎩ (ganayegi)
• Chichewa: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 危險, 危险 (ngai⁴ him²)

  Mandarin: 危險 (zh), 危险 (zh) (wēixiǎn)

  Min Nan: 危險 (zh-min-nan), 危险 (gûi-hiám / hûi-hiám / ûi-hiám)

• Czech: nebezpečný (cs)
• Danish: farlig (da)
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: gevaarlijk (nl), gevaarlijke (nl)
• Elfdalian: farlin
• Esperanto: danĝera
• Estonian: ohtlik (et)
• Ewe: please add this translation if you can
• Extremaduran: please add this translation if you can
• Faroese: vandamikil, hættisligur
• Finnish: vaarallinen (fi)
• French: dangereux (fr), périlleux (fr), périculeux
• Friulian: periculôs
• Galician: perigoso
• Georgian: საშიში (sašiši), სახიფათო (saxipato)
• German: gefährlich (de)
• Greek: επικίνδυνος (el) (epikíndynos)

  Ancient: ἐπικίνδυνος (epikíndunos)

• Greenlandic: navianartoq, ulorianartoq
• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Haitian Creole: danjere
• Hausa: please add this translation if you can
• Hawaiian: makaʻuloa, weliweli ʻia
• Hebrew: מסוכן \ מְסֻכָּן‎ (m'sukan)
• Hindi: ख़तरनाक (xatarnāk), जोखिमी (jokhimī)
• Hungarian: veszélyes (hu)
• Icelandic: hættulegur (is)
• Ido: danjeroza (io)
• Igbo: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: berbahaya (id), bahaya (id)
• Interlingua: periculose
• Irish: dáinséarach, contúirteach
• Italian: pericoloso (it)
• Japanese: 危険 (ja) (きけん, kiken), 危ない (ja) (あぶない, abunai)
• Javanese: mbebayani
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Khmer: មានគ្រោះថ្នាក់ (miən krŭəh thnak)
• Korean: 위험 (ko) (wiheom)
• Ladino: perikolozo

• Lao: ມີອັນຕະລາຍ (mī ʼan ta lāi)
• Latin: perīculōsus (la)
• Latvian: bīstams
• Lithuanian: pavojingas (lt)
• Luganda: please add this translation if you can
• Luxembourgish: geféierlech
• Macedonian: опасен (opasen)
• Malay: berbahaya
• Maltese: perikolużi
• Maori: mōrearea
• Marathi: घातक (ghātak)
• Mirandese: peligroso
• Mongolian: аюултай (mn) (ayuultai)
• Norman: dangéreux
• Northern Sami: váralaš
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: farlig, farefull

  Nynorsk: farefull

• Occitan: dangeirós
• Old English: frēcne
• Oriya: please add this translation if you can
• Pashto: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: خطرناک‎ (fa) (xatarnâk)
• Plautdietsch: roakboa
• Polish: niebezpieczny (pl), groźny (pl)
• Portuguese: perigoso (pt)
• Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
• Rajasthani: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: periculos (ro)
• Romansch: privlus (Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader), prigulus (Sursilvan), prievlus (Sutsilvan, Puter), privlous (Surmiran)
• Russian: опа́сный (ru) (opásnyj), риско́ванный (ru) (riskóvannyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̏па̄сан

  Roman: ȍpāsan (sh)

• Sicilian: dannìuru, piriculusu (scn), priculusu (scn)
• Sindhi: please add this translation if you can
• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: nebezpečný
• Slovene: nevárən (sl)
• Somali: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: peligroso (es)
• Sumerian: 𒆗 (kalag /aksu, agsu/)
• Swedish: farlig (sv), farligt (sv)
• Tagalog: mapanganib, delikado
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: ప్రమాదకరమైన (te) (pramādakaramaina)
• Thai: วิกฤต (th) (wí-grìt), อันตราย (th) (an-dtà-raai)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: tehlikeli (tr)
• Turkmen: howply
• Ukrainian: небезпе́чний (nebezpéčnyj)
• Urdu: جوکھمی‎ (jokhimī), خطرناک‎ (xatarnāk)
• Uyghur: خەتەرلىك‎ (xeterlik)
• Uzbek: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: nguy hiểm (vi)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Walloon: dandjreus (wa), riskeus (wa)
• Welsh: peryglus (cy)
• Wolof: please add this translation if you can
• Xhosa: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: געפֿערלעך‎ (geferlekh)
• Yoruba: please add this translation if you can
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

causing danger, ready to do harm or injury

• Dutch: gevaarlijk (nl)
• French: dangereux (fr)
• German: gefährlich (de)
• Indonesian: membahayakan (id)

• Maori: whakawhara
• Polish: groźny (pl)
• Swahili: na hatari (sw)

Anagrams

• nose guard, noseguard

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Occitan

Adjective

dangerous m (feminine singular dangerouso, masculine plural dangerous, feminine plural dangerousos)

1. (Mistralian) Alternative form of dangeirós