English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

dice +‎ -y

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈdaɪsi/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪsi

Adjective edit

dicey (comparative dicier, superlative diciest)

  1. Fraught with danger.
  2. Of uncertain, risky outcome.
    • 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.
  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.
  4. (slang) Nauseating, rank.
    • 2011, Keemholems Ojei, The Narcodollar Chieftains: The Narcotics Godfathers[1], page 101:
      Some more birds were scared off by the dicey smell. The man was dying gradually.

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