dicey

comparative dicier · superlative diciest · alternative dicy

1. Fraught with danger.
2. Of uncertain, risky outcome.

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

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

   2 more examples

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

   2009 June 17, Blessing-Miles Tendi, “Tsvangirai's dicey strategy”, in The Guardian

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

   2017 March 4, John Harris, “Hard Brexit is making the case for Scottish independence”, in The Guardian

3. Of doubtful or uncertain efficacy, provenance, etc.; dodgy.

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

   2011, Keemholems Ojei, The Narcodollar Chieftains: The Narcotics Godfathers, page 101

   3 more examples

   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.

   1992, Vincent O'Sullivan, “The Witness Man”, in Palms and Minarets: Selected Stories, page 95

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

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

   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.

   2025 January 31, Caitlin Owens, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s confirmation is a coin toss”, in Axios