dicey

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From dice +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

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:
      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:
      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, 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:
      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.

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