Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Unsafe |
UnsafeAdjective1. Lacking in security or safety; "his fortune was increasingly insecure"; "an insecure future". 2. Involving or causing danger or risk; liable to hurt or harm; "a dangerous criminal"; "a dangerous bridge"; "unemployment reached dangerous proportions". 3. Not safe from attack. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "unsafe" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1588. (references) |
Synonyms: UnsafeSynonyms: dangerous (adj), insecure (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonyms: safe (adj), secure (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Danger | Adjective: in danger; Noun: endangered; Verb: fraught with danger; dangerous, hazardous, perilous, parlous, periculous; unsafe, unprotected; (safe, protect; );insecure. untrustworthy; built upon.sand, on a sandy basis; wildcat. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Unsafe and Seine (1966) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Photomicrograph of Cryptosporidium parvum oocyts in stool smear, acid fast stain. Photograph of water fountain with sign that water is unsafe. Parasite. Credit: CDC. |  | Unsafe poultry is removed. Credit: USDA. |
 | War Declared on Unsafe Toilets!. Credit: National Library of Medicine. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Play | Caption |
 | Kitten; meow; meowing; gentle; assailable; defenseless; tender; unguarded; unprotected; unsafe; weak; vulnerable. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
John Locke | 1690 | IF man in the state of nature be so free, as has been said; if he be absolute lord of his own person and possessions, equal to the greatest, and subject to no body, why will he part with his freedom? why will he give up this empire, and subject himself to the dominion and controul of any other power? To which it is obvious to answer, that though in the state of nature he hath such a right, yet the enjoyment of it is very uncertain, and constantly exposed to the invasion of others: for all being kings as much as he, every man his equal, and the greater part no strict observers of equity and justice, the enjoyment of the property he has in this state is very unsafe, very unsecure. (Second Treatise of Government) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | The most frequent source is home-canned foods, prepared in an unsafe manner. (references) | |
Drugs such as amphetamines and thyroid derivatives are unsafe and unapproved. (references) | ||
Various strategies have been used during the past decade to exclude unsafe units from transfusion. (references) | ||
Business | For those accustomed to block, brick and cement, dry wall seems insubstantial, unsafe, and lacking in privacy. (references) | |
Workers' jobs are not protected if they remove themselves from what they consider to be unsafe working conditions. (references) | ||
However, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs may require employers to reinstate workers dismissed for not performing unsafe work. (references) | ||
Children | Indonesia | Almost 50 percent of children grow up in unhealthy or unsafe environments. (references) |
Dominican Republic | Poor adolescent girls and boys sometimes are enticed into performing sexual acts by the promise of food or clothing; sometimes they are forced into unsafe relationships with strangers by the need for money. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Turkmenistan | The Ashgabat city government claimed that he had made unauthorized renovations, which rendered it unsafe for occupation. (references) |
Economic History | Cuba (09/01) | Multi-family occupation of often unsafe housing is common. (references) |
Botswana | Health and safety laws, embodied in the Factories Act of 1973, are designed to provide basic protection for workers from unsafe working conditions. (references) | |
Panama | By the fall of 1989, the regime was barely clinging to power, and the regime's paranoia made daily existence unsafe for U.S. forces and other U.S. citizens. (references) | |
Human Rights | Venezuela | However, most inmate deaths resulted from prisoner-on-prisoner violence (especially during fights between rival gangs), riots, fires, and from generally unsafe conditions. (references) |
Minorities | Poland | This was similar to the attack on the same center in 2000, which is reportedly located in an unsafe neighborhood; a second center in Krakow has not been the target of such attacks. (references) |
Political Economy | Turkmenistan | Prison conditions remained poor and unsafe. (references) |
Trade | Canada | The Canadian government, like the US government, is concerned with protecting its citizens from faulty or unsafe products. (references) |
Brazil | However, by doing so they assume the risk of product liability claims if their products are found to be unsafe by the Brazilian authorities. (references) | |
Travel | Nepal | Some locally bottled water may be unsafe. (references) |
Women | Turkmenistan | Women are restricted from working in some dangerous and environmentally unsafe jobs. (references) |
Worker Rights | Bolivia | Many workers have died due to unsafe conditions. (references) |
Iceland | Firing workers who report unsafe or unhealthy conditions is illegal. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Unsafe" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Unsafe" is used about 393 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 393 | 14,149 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "unsafe": feel unsafe ♦ this is unsafe to eat. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "unsafe"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | i rrezikshëm (breakneck, critical, dangerous, endangering, forbidding, hairy, hazardous, high risk, malign, nasty, parlous, perilous, pestilent, risky, risque, touch and go, unchancy), i pasigurt (chancy, crazy, Dickey, dicky, disputable, doubtful, dubious, faithless, fly-by-night, incalculable, insecure, precarious, questionable, touch and go, tricksy, trustless, truthless, unassured, uncertain, unclear, unreliable, unsteady, unsure, untrustworthy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | لا يوثق به, غير مأمون, خطير (acute, critical, dangerous, eventful, grave, grievous, hazardous, heavy, important, irresistible, momentous, redoubtable, risky, risque, serious, severe, significant, ticklish, weighty). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | опасен (adventurous, awkward, breakneck, dangerous, hazardous, hot, insecure, lively, parlous, perilous, pestiferous, precarious, redoubtable, risky, rocky, rum, rummy, slippery, slippy, trappy, ugly, unchancy, unsure, virulent, volatile, warm), несигурен (build on sand, chancy, dangerous, disputable, dubious, equivocal, faltering, halting, insecure, irresolute, long, pendulous, precarious, problematic, queasy, risky, rocky, shaky, slippy, suspensive, tentative, top heavy, tottery, treacherous, uncertain, uneasy, unreliable, unresolved, unsettled, unsound, unsteady, unsure, untrustworthy, variable, versatile, wonky). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 不安全 (insecure). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | zdraví škodlivý (unhealthy, unwholesome), nespolehlivý (hit and run, hit or miss, incalculable, treacherous, uncertain, unreliable, untrustworthy), nepitný, nejistý (afloat, chancy, cloudy, doubtful, dubious, faltering, fluid, halting, insecure, jumpy, precarious, shaky, suspensive, tenuous, uncertain, undecided, uneasy, uneven, unsettled, unsound, unsure), nebezpeèný (dangerous, grave, hairy, hazardous, perilous, risky, ugly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | der ikke frembyder den fornoedne sikkerhed (unsafe container), container (container, freight container, unsafe container). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | onveilige container (unsafe container). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | risqué, peu sûr, dangereux. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | unsicher (chancy, dangerous, doubtful, dubious, halting, haltingly, hazardous, insecure, insecurely, instable, jumpy, precarious, precariously, shaky, uncertain, uncertainly, uneasily, uneasy, uneven, unsafely, unsettled, unsound, unstable, unstably, unsteady, unsure, wild). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | επικίνδυνοσ (dangerous, desperate, hazardous, nasty, perilous, risky, wild cat), επισφαλήσ (insecure, shaky, unsound), επίφοβοσ (dreadful). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מסוכן (dangerous, fell, hazardous, mean, perilous, precarious, risky, unhealthy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | veszélyes (baleful, dangerous, fraught with danger, have teeth in it, hazardous, insecure, malignant, nasty, parlous, perilous, risky, sticky), kockázatos (chancy, dicey, endangering, fraught with risk, hairy, hazardous, perilous, risky, speculative, sticky, touch and go). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | tak aman. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | pericoloso (breakneck, dangerous, hazarding, hazardous, nasty, perilous, risky, treacherous, vicious), pericolante (dilapidated, haywire, ramshackle), malsicuro (aleatory, insecure, uncertain, unreliable, unsound, unstably, unsteady, unsure). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 위험한 (Dangerous, hazardous, Perilous, risky, speculative). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | afeunsay pouco seguro (pasteboard, rickety, unassured, unsteady, untrustworthy, vague, wonky), pouco firme (incompact, infirm, insecure, niddle-noddle, rattletrap, shaky, shifting, tottering, tottery, uncertain, unsound, unstable, unsteady, unsure, weak-kneed, wobbly, wonky), perigoso (adventure, adventurous, breakneck, chanceful, critical, dangerous, harmful, hazardous, hot, insecure, parlous, perilous, precarious, risky, touch and go, touch-and-go, ugly, unchancy, venturesome), inseguro (brittle, insecure, jumpy, shaky, unreliable, unstable, unsteady, unsure), arriscado (audacious, breakneck, chanceful, dangerous, daring, hazardous, intrepid, perilous, precarious, risky, scabrous, speculative, touch-and-go, ugly, venturesome). (various references) riscant (chancy, dangerous, dare devil, hazardous, reckless, risky, temerarious, venturesome, wildcat), periculos (awkward, baleful, breakneck, dangerous, dangerously, grave, parlous, perilous, perniciously, risky, trappy, venturesome, wildcat), nesigur (chancy, conjectural, doubtful, dubious, erratic, fitful, hesitating, in doubt, inconstant, indecisive, insecure, irresolutely, rocky, ticklish, uncertain). (various references) опасный (breakneck, chanceful, dangerous, dicey, endangering, grave, hazardous, heroic, hot, nasty, parlous, perilous, precarious, risky, trappy, virulent), ненадежный (dicky, fair weather, fast and loose, fly-by-night, incalculable, insecure, precarious, shaky, slippery, tricksy, troublesome, trustless, truthless, uncertain, undependable, unreliable, unsound, unsure, untrustworthy, wonky). (various references) opasan (adventurous, breakneck, dangerous, girded, hazardous, parlous, perilous, pernicious, tight, treacherous, ugly, uncanny, venturous, vicious), nesiguran (dickey, dicky, diffident, dotty, doubtful, faltering, insecure, precarious, shaky, uncertain, uneasy, unsound, unsure, waggly, wildcat, wonky), nepouzdan (dicky, equivocal, precarious, sandy, trustless, unassured, uncertain, unreliable, unsteady, untrustworthy). (various references) inseguro (diffident, doubtful, doubting, firmless, insecure, loose, self conscious, shaky, uncertain, unsteady, unsure, untrustworthy). (various references) osäker (doubtful, fluid, iffy, insecure, precarious, shaky, touch and go, uncertain, unsettled, unsure, vague). (various references) tehlikeli (adventurous, breakneck, danger, dangerous, daring, forbidding, hairy, hazardous, noxious, parlous, perilous, pestilent, pestilential, risky, touch and go, venturesome, wildcat), güvenli olmayan, emniyetsiz (insecure, unsure), emin olmayan (uncertain, unconvinced, unsure). (various references) ненадійний (chancy, faithless, fallible, incalculable, insecure, precarious, questionable, ramshackle, shifty, tickle, treacherous, trustless, truthless, unassured, unreliable, unsure, untrustworthy, wacky, whacky), небезпечний (adventurous, awkward, breakneck, chanceful, climacteric, critical, dangerous, harmful, hazardous, insecure, nasty, parlous, perilous, redoubtable, redoubted, serious, thorny, uncanny, virulent, wicked). (various references) không chắc chắn; nguy hiểm, không an to n. (various references) anniogel (insecure). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Date | Source | 1 Samuel Chapter 20, Verse 31 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Oti pasaV taV hmeraV aV o uioV iessai zh epi thV ghV ouc etoimasqhsetai h basileia sou nun oun aposteilaV labe ton neanian oti uioV qanatou outoV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Omnibus enim diebus quibus filius Isai vixerit super terram non stabilieris tu neque regnum tuum itaque iam nunc mitte et adduc eum ad me quia filius mortis est |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Forsothe alle the days in whiche the sone of Ysay shal lyue vpon the erthe, shal not be stable thou ne thi rewme; and so nowe send, and bryng hym to me, for the sone of deeth he is. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the earth, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | For while the son of Jesse is living on the earth, your position is unsafe and your kingdom is in danger. So make him come here to me, for it is certainly right for him to be put to death. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | 1 Samuel Chapter 20, Verse 31 |
| Cebuano | Kay samtang nga ang anak nga lalake ni Isai buhi sa ibabaw sa yuta, dili ikaw mapahamutang, ni ang imong gingharian. Busa karon pasugoi ug dad-a siya ngari kanako, kay sa walay duhaduha siya mamatay. |
| Croatian | Jer dokle god bude živ na zemlji Jišajev sin, neæeš biti siguran ni ti ni tvoje kraljevstvo. Zato sad pošalji po njega i dovedi ga k meni jer je osuðen na smrt." |
| Danish | Thi så længe Isajs Søn er i Live på Jorden, er hverken du eller dit Kongedømme i Sikkerhed. Send derfor Bud og hent ham til mig, thi han er dødsens!" |
| Dutch | Want al de dagen, die de zoon van Isai op den aardbodem leven zal, zo zult gij noch uw koninkrijk bevestigd worden; nu dan, schik heen, en haal hem tot mij, want hij is een kind des doods. |
| Finnish | Sillä niin kauan kuin Iisain poika elää maan päällä, et sinä eikä sinun kuninkuutesi ole turvassa. Lähetä nyt noutamaan hänet minun luokseni, sillä hän on kuoleman oma." |
| French | Car aussi longtemps que le fils d`Isaï sera vivant sur la terre, il n`y aura point de sécurité ni pour toi ni pour ta royauté. Et maintenant, envoie-le chercher, et qu`on me l`amène, car il est digne de mort. |
| German | Denn solange der Sohn Isais lebt auf Erden, wirst du, dazu auch dein Königreich, nicht bestehen. So sende nun hin und laß ihn herholen zu mir; denn er muß sterben. |
| Haitian Creole | Men, m' fè ou konnen toutotan pitit Izayi sa a vivan, ou p'ap janm wa nan peyi a, ou p'ap janm ka gouvènen. Voye chache l' mennen ban mwen. Se pou l' mouri. |
| Hungarian | Mert mindaddig, míg Isainak fia él a földön, nem állhatsz fenn sem te, sem a te királyságod; most azért küldj érette, és hozasd ide õt hozzám, mert õ a halál fia. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Tidak sadarkah engkau bahwa selama Daud hidup engkau tidak akan mungkin menjadi raja atas negeri ini? Sekarang suruhlah orang mencari dia dan membawanya kemari, sebab dia harus mati!" |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Karena pada segala hari bin Isai itu lagi hidup di atas bumi, niscaya engkau dan kerajaanmupun tiada dapat ditentukan; maka sekarang juga suruhkanlah orang mengambil dia dan membawa dia kepadaku, karena akan mati dibunuh adanya. |
| Italian | Perché fino a quando vivr il figlio di Iesse sulla terra, non avrai sicurezza né tu né il tuo regno. Manda dunque a prenderlo e conducilo qui da me, perché deve morire». |
| Maori | I nga ra katoa e ora ai te tama a Hehe ki runga ki te whenua, e kore koe e tu, me tou rangatiratanga. Na, tonoa kia tikina ia ki ahau, kua tino takoto hoki te mate mona. |
| Norwegian | For så lenge Isais sønn er til på jorden, er hverken du eller din kongemakt trygg. Send derfor bud og hent ham hit til mig, for han er dødsens. |
| Portuguese | Pois por todo o tempo em que o filho de Jessé viver sobre a terra, nem tu estarás seguro, nem o teu reino; pelo que envia agora, e traze-mo, porque ele há de morrer. |
| Rumanian | Cqci cktq vreme va trqi fiul lui Isai pe pqmknt, nu va fi liniwte nici pentru tine, nici pentru kmpqrqyia ta. Wi acum trimete sq -l caute, wi sq mi -l aducq, fiindcq este vrednic de moarte``. |
| Spanish | Todo el tiempo que el hijo de Isaí viva sobre la tierra, ni tú estarás firme, ni tu reino. Manda, pues, a traérmelo, porque ha de morir. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "unsafe": unsafely, unsafeties, unsafety. (additional references) | |
| |
"Unsafe" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ansae, Ansaf, Ansoff, Duncalfe, Dundaff, Incafe, Insaf, Rnzaf, unsane, unsave, usafe. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "unsafe" (pronounced unsā"f) |
| 3 | -s ā" f | safe. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-f-n-s-u" | |
-1 letter: fanes, fauns, snafu, usnea. | |
-2 letters: anes, anus, fane, fans, faun, fens, feus, funs, fuse, safe, sane. | |
-3 letters: ane, eau, efs, ens, fan, fas, fen, feu, fun, nae, nus, sae, sau, sea, sen, sue, sun, uns, use. | |
-4 letters: ae, an, as, ef, en, es, fa, na, ne, nu, un, us. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-f-n-s-u" | |
+1 letter: furanes, snafued. | |
+2 letters: flaneurs, fraenums, funerals, furanose, furnaces, superfan, unfasten, unifaces, unsafely, unsafety. | |
+3 letters: affluents, awfulness, epifaunas, flaunters, frauleins, furanoses, nefarious, sulfonate, superfans, transfuse, unfairest, unfastens. | |
+4 letters: affluences, artfulness, endosulfan, famousness, faultiness, fecundates, flauntiest, fulminates, fundaments, fundraiser, furanoside, gardenfuls, hausfrauen, infatuates, influenzas, infuriates, insufflate, lawfulness, manfulness, megafaunas, quantifies, sufferance, sulfonated, sulfonates, transfused, transfuses, unfairness, unfastened, unfeasible, unsafeties. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)55 6E 73 61 66 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)..- -. ... .- ..-. . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010101 01101110 01110011 01100001 01100110 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)U n s a f e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0055 006E 0073 0061 0066 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)558085677271 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Historic 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Bible Trace 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Orthography 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
