dicey

English

Alternative forms

• dicy

Etymology

From dice +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdaɪsi/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪsi

Adjective

dicey (comparative dicier, superlative diciest)

1. Fraught with danger.
2. Of uncertain, risky outcome.
   • 2009 June 17, Blessing-Miles Tendi, “Tsvangirai's dicey strategy”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     This was a dicey stratagem because all too often the support Britain rendered played into Zanu-PF's anti-colonial constructions.

   • 2012, Jonathan Deutsch, Natalya Murakhver, editors, They Eat That?: A Cultural Encyclopedia of Weird and Exotic Food from Around the World, page 161:

     Devouring the flesh of animals killed on roadways can be a bit dicey.

   • 2017 March 4, John Harris, “Hard Brexit is making the case for Scottish independence”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     For sure, the economic and fiscal prospects for an independent Scotland look a lot dicier than they did three years ago.

3. Of doubtful or uncertain efficacy, provenance, etc.; dodgy.
   • 1992, Vincent O'Sullivan, “The Witness Man”, in Palms and Minarets: Selected Stories, page 95:

     As if I'm not a bit past that, Clem thought, as if with his dicey ticker and all he shouldn′t be taking life pretty quietly, instead of waking with the old memoroes disturbing him.

   • 2011, Jay Baer, Amber Naslund, The NOW Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter and More Social, page xv:

     If you were in the business of selling dicey meat, the invention of the telephone rocked your world.

   • 2011, Keemholems Ojei, The Narcodollar Chieftains: The Narcotics Godfathers‎^[3], page 101:

     Some more birds were scared off by the dicey smell. The man was dying gradually.

   • 2025 January 31, Caitlin Owens, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s confirmation is a coin toss”, in Axios‎^[4]:

     But on abortion, one of his diciest issues, his repeated commitment to follow Trump's lead seemed to satisfy ardent anti-abortion members, although several Democrats did their best to remind those colleagues that Kennedy's personal values have been in stark contrast with their own.

Synonyms

• chancy
• iffy

Derived terms

• diceyness
• dicily

Translations

fraught with danger

• Bulgarian: потенциално опасен (potencialno opasen)
• Czech: nebezpečný (cs)
• Dutch: gevaarlijk (nl), bedreigend (nl)
• French: périlleux (fr) m, risqué (fr) m
• German: brenzlig (de)
• Russian: опа́сный (ru) (opásnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: potencijalno opasan
• Spanish: riesgoso (es), peligroso (es)
• Swedish: farlig (sv)
• Turkish: riskli (tr)

of uncertain, risky outcome

• Bulgarian: рискован (bg) (riskovan)
• Czech: riskantní (cs), ošemetný (cs), zrádný
• Dutch: onzeker (nl), riskant (nl)
• French: au résultat incertain, risqué (fr)
• German: riskant (de)
• Romanian: riscant (ro) m
• Russian: рискованый (riskovanyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: riskantan (sh), rizičan (sh)
• Spanish: peligroso (es), arriesgado (es), dudoso (es), incierto (es)
• Swedish: riskabel (sv)
• Turkish: belirsiz (tr), gayrimuayyen (tr) (obsolete), müphem (tr) (obsolete)