dangerousness
How threatening something is
Dangerousness is the quality of being dangerous—the degree to which something poses a threat of harm.
The word appears most often in legal and psychiatric contexts, where assessing a person's dangerousness determines detention, sentencing, or commitment: The court considered the defendant's dangerousness to the community.
Unlike danger, which names the threat itself, dangerousness describes the capacity to cause it.
Source of potential harm
- intimidationDeliberate fear-inducing pressure
- ominousSuggesting something bad approaches
- forebodingFearful anticipation of harm
- hostilityAntagonistic disposition toward others
aggression · antagonism · malice · belligerence · provocation · coercion · confrontation · escalation
Capable of causing harm
- lethalCausing or capable of death
- deadlyAble to cause expiration
- poisonousCapable of causing death
- radioactiveEmitting nuclear decay particles
carcinogenic · venomous · corrosive · biohazard · contaminated · infectious · noxious · harmful
Quantified chance of occurrence
- likelihoodChance something will occur
- exposureState of being unprotected
- jeopardyRisk of harm
- oddsLikelihood expressed numerically
assessment · evaluation · mitigation · vulnerability · liability · precariousness · uncertainty · chance
Prone to sudden change
- explosiveProne to sudden detonation
- unpredictableCannot be anticipated
- erraticLacking regularity or consistency
- combustibleCapable of burning
reactive · temperamental · mercurial · capricious · incendiary · precarious · flashpoint · tinderbox
menace
Source of potential harm
- intimidationDeliberate fear-inducing pressure
- ominousSuggesting something bad approaches
- forebodingFearful anticipation of harm
hostility · aggression · antagonism · malice · belligerence · provocation · coercion · confrontation · escalation · ultimatum
toxic
Capable of causing harm
radioactive · carcinogenic · venomous · corrosive · biohazard · contaminated · infectious · noxious · harmful · unsafe
probability
Quantified chance of occurrence
- likelihoodChance something will occur
- exposureState of being unprotected
- jeopardyRisk of harm
odds · assessment · evaluation · mitigation · vulnerability · liability · precariousness · uncertainty · chance · gamble
unstable
Prone to sudden change
- explosiveProne to sudden detonation
- unpredictableCannot be anticipated
- erraticLacking regularity or consistency
combustible · reactive · temperamental · mercurial · capricious · incendiary · precarious · flashpoint · tinderbox · hair-trigger
cliff
Vertical rock wall
- avalancheRapid mountain snow collapse
- quicksandYielding, engulfing sediment
- whirlpoolRotating water formation
landslide · volcano · tsunami · earthquake · tornado · wildfire · sinkhole · lightning · blizzard · cyclone
- forensic psychologyforensic evaluation, forensic interview, insanity plea, psychological assessment, legal insanity
dangerousnesssafety
Freedom from harm
safeness · harmlessness · security · innocuousness · protectiveness
dangerousnessinsignificance
Lack of consequence or weight
harmlessness · triviality · negligibility · inconsequentiality · benignity
danger, dangerous, endanger, hazardous, dangers, endangered, dangerously, endangers, endangering