1. General

According to the Robert dictionary, a risk is a "more or less foreseeable possible danger"; for the Larousse, it's a "more or less probable danger or inconvenience to which one is exposed".

In everyday language, the term risk is used indifferently to evoke the possibility of a positive event, such as "the risk of winning", or a negative one, such as "the risk of an accident". It is frequently used improperly as a synonym for the term danger, reflecting the common confusion between these two notions.

The development of hazard studies and risk assessment methods in the second half of the 20th century led to more restrictive definitions of these terms.