unsafe

What it means

1. Not safe (various senses); dangerous.

   For much the same reasons that safe languages are preferred over unsafe languages, these powerful---but unsafe---capabilities in Java should be restricted.

   2015 October, Luis Mastrangelo et al., “Use at your own risk: the Java unsafe API in the wild”, in ACM SIGPLAN Notices, volume 50, number 10, →DOI

   2 more examples

   "RMT has made it clear that our members have a right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions, and the union will be closely monitoring the situation. [...]"

   2020 May 20, Richard Clinnick, “Network News: More trains... but advice is not to use public transport”, in Rail, pages 7–8

   Even as FDA works to develop that plan, consumers continue to be exposed to unsafe food chemicals including not just dyes but also the artificial sweetener aspartame, the white pigment titanium dioxide, the preservative propylparaben, and the phthalate food packaging chemicals, according to CSPI.

   2025 January 15, “FDA moves to eliminate carcinogenic Red 3 from foods”, in Center for Science in the Public Interest, archived from the original on 10 Nov 2025

   Synonyms: precarious, rickety, shaky, tottering, unsteady, unstable, wobbly

In a sentence

For much the same reasons that safe languages are preferred over unsafe languages, these powerful---but unsafe---capabilities in Java should be restricted.

2015 October, Luis Mastrangelo et al., “Use at your own risk: the Java unsafe API in the wild”, in ACM SIGPLAN Notices, volume 50, number 10, →DOI

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*né
2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
3. Proto-Germanic*un-
4. Proto-West Germanic*un-
5. Old Englishun-
6. Middle Englishun-
7. Englishun-
8. Englishsafe
9. Englishunsafe

From un- (not) + safe.