at risk
In possible jeopardy
At risk describes vulnerability to harm, danger, or an undesirable outcome.
The phrase typically modifies people or things facing elevated chances of something bad: at-risk youth, patients at risk for heart disease, species at risk of extinction.
What's being risked is usually clear from context—health, safety, failure, loss.
Often hyphenated when used as an adjective before a noun.
Expressed intent to harm
- speciesFinest taxonomic rank
- conservationPreventing waste or loss
- extinctNo longer existing
- extinctionComplete vanishing of a species
habitat · poaching · biodiversity · deforestation · overhunting · overfishing · wildlife · ecosystem
Not firmly known
- unstableProne to sudden change
- tenuousLacking solid foundation
- fragileEasily broken or damaged
- insecureLacking self-assurance
volatile · delicate · shaky · touch-and-go · dicey · iffy · wobbly · unsteady
State of being immature
- childrenYoung human beings
- elderlyAdvanced in age
- homelessWithout a dwelling
- marginalizedPushed to society's edges
underserved · population · community · student · dropout · intervention · outreach · support
Deploying capital for returns
- capitalWealth used for investment
- portfolioCollected works or assets
- assetsOwned items of value
- lossBeing without something
default · bankruptcy · insolvency · credit · debt · loan · mortgage · foreclosure
Source of potential harm
- threatIndication of potential harm
- perilSerious threat of harm
- jeopardyRisk of harm
- menaceSource of potential harm
crisis · emergency · exposure · liability · gamble · pitfall · trouble · warning
Disorder impairing normal function
- illnessState of poor health
- infectionPathogen invasion causing illness
- exposureState of being unprotected
- diabetesMetabolic disorder affecting glucose
hypertension · obesity · smoking · cholesterol · cancer · heart disease · stroke · immunocompromised
threatened
Expressed intent to harm
- speciesFinest taxonomic rank
- conservationPreventing waste or loss
- extinctNo longer existing
extinction · habitat · poaching · biodiversity · deforestation · overhunting · overfishing · wildlife · ecosystem · sanctuary
uncertain
Not firmly known
insecure · volatile · delicate · shaky · touch-and-go · dicey · iffy · wobbly · unsteady · tentative
youth
State of being immature
marginalized · underserved · population · community · student · dropout · intervention · outreach · support · services
investment
Deploying capital for returns
loss · default · bankruptcy · insolvency · credit · debt · loan · mortgage · foreclosure · downturn
hazard
Source of potential harm
menace · crisis · emergency · exposure · liability · gamble · pitfall · trouble · warning · alert
disease
Disorder impairing normal function
- illnessState of poor health
- infectionPathogen invasion causing illness
- exposureState of being unprotected
diabetes · hypertension · obesity · smoking · cholesterol · cancer · heart disease · stroke · immunocompromised · malnutrition
- Danger Levelsdanger, critical, imminent, perilous, unsafe
- phrasesnoun phrases, noun phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, prepositional phrases
- risk phrasestake a chance, take a gamble, go for broke, roll the dice, go all in
- Security Statussafe, secure, secured, unsafe, insecure
- survival statesalive, dead, dying, injured, safe
- vulnerabilityvulnerability, vulnerable, defenselessness, defenseless, helplessness
at risksafe
Free from peril
secure · protected · out of danger · safe and sound · safeguarded
at riskguaranteed
Promised with certainty
assured · certain · in the clear · stable · home free
at riskstable
Secure and unchanging
secure · established · solid · well-established · thriving
risk, at, risky, risked, risks, risking, riskiness, riskiest, riskier