Definition

Noun: - A boundary or limit that, if crossed, leads to a hazardous or risky situation: The term refers to a real or metaphorical line marking the point where safety ends and danger begins.

Usage

• Used to indicate a physical safety limit or a figurative threshold of risk.
• Often appears in contexts involving safety warnings, financial risk, ethical boundaries, or personal limits.

Examples

• Physical Boundary:

  • The red tape on the factory floor marks the danger line; do not cross it without proper equipment.
  • The floodwaters have reached the danger line marked on the riverbank.

• Figurative/Abstract Boundary:

  • His reckless spending has brought the company's finances to the danger line.
  • Pushing your body that hard during training is flirting with the danger line of injury.

Advanced Usage

• "to approach/to near the danger line": To get close to a risky limit.
  • The country's debt is approaching the danger line, causing concern among economists.
• "to cross/to go beyond the danger line": To pass into a dangerous state or area.
  • By ignoring the safety protocols, he crossed the danger line and put the whole team at risk.

Variants and Related Words

• Danger zone (n): An area or situation of high risk.
  • The fire spread quickly, turning the entire block into a danger zone.
• Safety line (n): A line or limit marking a safe area; the opposite concept.
  • Always stay behind the safety line while the machinery is operating.

Synonyms

• Threshold of danger: The point at which danger begins.
• Risk boundary: A limit defining an area of risk.
• Hazard limit: A demarcation indicating the start of a hazard.

Related Phrases

• Line in the sand: A figurative boundary that should not be crossed, often set as a warning. (Note: This is a related idiom, not a phrasal verb of "danger line").
  • The new policy on data privacy is a line in the sand for the company.

Noun

1. a line beyond which it is dangerous to go