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Joined: Feb 2013
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stranger
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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)..

Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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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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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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Carpal Tunnel
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A hazard is unintentionally potentially harmful. A threat is intentionally potentially harmful. That's the way I take it.


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