unsafe
/ʌnˈseɪf
/adjective
1Not safe; dangerous: drinking water in some areas may be unsafe...
- I'm not saying this product is safe or unsafe, but I don't think it's life-threatening.
- For a time, the fire was so dangerous, it was unsafe for firefighters to even be up here.
- They will end up on the road fatality lists, victims of poor and dangerous roads and unsafe driving.
Synonyms
dangerous, risky, perilous, hazardous, precarious, life-threatening, high-risk, treacherous, insecure, unsound, vulnerable, exposed, defenceless;
destructive, harmful, injurious, malignant, toxic;
threatening, menacing
informal hairy, chancy
British informal dodgy
2 Law (Of a verdict or conviction) not based on reliable evidence and likely to constitute a miscarriage of justice: because the confession was unreliable the verdict was unsafe and unsatisfactory...
- But the question of whether the appellants' convictions were unsafe is a matter of English law.
- On this appeal four grounds are relied upon in support of the submission that the appellant's conviction is unsafe.
- The prosecution accept that if the trial was unfair the convictions were unsafe and should be quashed.
Synonyms
unreliable, insecure, unsound, questionable, open to question, doubtful, open to doubt, dubious, uncertain, suspect, shaky, flimsy, weak, unconvincing, unsupported, unsubstantiated, fallible
informal iffy, dodgy, dicey
Derivatives
unsafely
- A retired paramedic today claimed that ‘unrealistic’ Government targets were forcing ambulance crews to drive unsafely so they get to 999 callouts within the expected time limit.
- These modifications allowed these children to operate their vehicles unsafely so that they could participate in drag racing events on major highways during off-hours.
- The article goes on to say that young people are using the structure of the bridge unsafely.
unsafeness
- The test of unsafeness of a conviction applied by the Court of Appeal is not identical to the issue of unfairness before the ECtHR.
- If the unsafeness of the Decision due to the delay is established, then that is an independent ground of appeal.
- The death is often just a means by which one often, not this case, proves unsafeness, and so nothing turns on the fact that the safety mesh, had it existed, or had he been wearing a harness, would have saved him, because it could not have.