At-risk is how teachers, doctors, and social workers mark a group of people who need extra care because something bad is more likely to happen to them. The dictionary picture is often children in danger from violent parents, or people more likely to become ill — and that is still the heart of it. You will also hear at-risk youth, at-risk students, at-risk patients. The hyphen matters in writing: at-risk children (one adjective, before the noun). After the verb, English usually drops it: those children are at risk. Though actually, the tidy label can hide a messy truth. “At-risk” does not only mean “poor,” and it does not mean the harm has already happened. It means the chance is higher — of violence, of illness, of dropping out, of being hurt. Officials like the phrase because it is calm and careful. Students should know it can also sound like paperwork talking about people.