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#209775 - 02/25/13 06:30 AM Hazard and threat: antonyms?
brucenew Offline
stranger

Registered: 02/25/13
Posts: 2
Loc: California
I am trying to rationalize the language of risk and am stuck on antonyms of hazard and threat (both as nouns), where hazard is something in a harmless state, threat is in a harmful state. The antonym of hazard would need to mean something in a not-helping-but-could-change-to-helping state, the antonym of threat would need to mean something in a helping state. Any ideas? Some potential antonyms (such as ally for threat) surely count as antonyms but do not seem generalizable enough conceptually to include other antonyms (such as contributor)..

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#209777 - 02/25/13 07:13 AM Re: Hazard and threat: antonyms? [Re: brucenew]
Faldage Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 13653
You'll probably have to explain, at least for some of us, how a hazard can be something in a harmless state. Some concrete examples would be a good start. I could see a hazard as something that is passively dangerous while a threat is actively dangerous. Not what I would call antonyms.

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#209779 - 02/25/13 08:29 AM Re: Hazard and threat: antonyms? [Re: Faldage]
brucenew Offline
stranger

Registered: 02/25/13
Posts: 2
Loc: California
Hazard and threat are different states of the same thing, a harmless state and a harmful state. So an example would be a river (harmless state) and flood (harmful state). I am stuck on antonyms of both hazard and threat.

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#209789 - 02/25/13 06:42 PM Re: Hazard and threat: antonyms? [Re: brucenew]
Faldage Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 13653
A hazard is unintentionally potentially harmful. A threat is intentionally potentially harmful. That's the way I take it.

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