minimal risk
Hardly any danger
Minimal risk describes a level of danger or potential harm so low as to be negligible or easily acceptable.
The phrase appears frequently in medical research ethics, where procedures posing minimal risk—like drawing blood—require less scrutiny than riskier interventions.
In finance and planning, minimal risk suggests near-certainty of a safe outcome: This is a minimal risk investment.
The threshold for what counts as minimal varies by context.
- low stakesMinimal risk or consequence
- safeFree from peril
- playing it safeAvoiding unnecessary risk
- safe betLikely winning wager
- secureProtected from harm
cautious · conservative · on the safe side · protected · harmless · no harm done · benign · slight · unlikely · remote · manageable · controlled · due diligence · prudent · measured · careful · guarded · stable
- alert levelsDEFCON, red alert, orange alert, yellow alert, elevated
- research ethicsresearch ethics, bioethics, ethics board, ethics training, fabrication
- risk levels
minimal riskperilous
Fraught with danger
life-threatening · unsafe · hazardous · dangerous · deadly
minimal riskunpredictable
Cannot be anticipated
volatile · speculative · all-or-nothing · make-or-break · Russian roulette
minimal, minimum, minimize, minimizing, minimized, minimization, minimalist, minimalism, mini