adj
Meaning 1
Using or exercising caution; careful; tentative
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- He took a few cautious steps toward the cave.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
cautious
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɔːʃəs/
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Australian, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard: /ˈkoːʃəs/
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kôshn without the cot–caught merger
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/ˈkɔʃəs/ without the cot–caught merger
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cot-caught-merger: käshn
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cot-caught-merger: /ˈkɑʃəs/
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US: cot-caught Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Scotland: /ˈkɔʃəs/
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rhymes with -ɔːʃəs
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CMU ARPABET: K AO1 SH AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adjective
Meaning 2
showing careful forethought
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- reserved and cautious; never making swift decisions
- a cautious driver
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: incautious
adjective satellite
Meaning 3
avoiding excess
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a conservative estimate
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: conservative
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
people who are fearful and cautious
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- whitewater rafting is not for the timid
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: timid
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: people
History
Etymology
From cauti(on) + -ous. Compare Latin cautus.
Across languages
Translations
117 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Albanian: i kujdesshëm — careful
- Arabic: وَرِع (wariʕ) — careful
- Arabic: حَذِر (ḥaḏir) — careful
- Arabic: مُتَحَوِّط (mutaḥawwiṭ) — careful
- Armenian: զգուշավոր (zgušavor) — careful
- Azerbaijani: ehtiyatlı — careful
- Bashkir: һаҡ (haq) — careful
- Belarusian: асцяро́жны (ascjaróžny) — careful
- Bengali: সতর্ক (śotork) — careful
- Bengali: সাবধান (śabodhan) — careful
- Bulgarian: внима́телен (vnimátelen) — careful
- Bulgarian: предпазли́в (predpazlív) — careful
- Burmese: သတိထား (sa.ti.hta:) — careful
- Catalan: cautelós — careful
- Catalan: caut — careful
- Chinese Mandarin: 謹慎 /谨慎 (jǐnshèn) — careful
- Chinese Mandarin: 慎重 (shènzhòng) — careful
- Czech: opatrný — careful
- Czech: obezřetný — careful
- Danish: varsom — careful
- Danish: forsigtig — careful
- Dutch: voorzichtig — careful
- Esperanto: singarda — careful
- Estonian: ettevaatlik — careful
- Finnish: varovainen — careful
- French: prudent — careful
- Georgian: ფრთხილი (prtxili) — careful
- German: vorsichtig — careful
- German: zaghaft — careful
- German: behutsam — careful
- Ancient Greek: ἐπιμελής (epimelḗs) — careful
- Ancient Greek: ἥσυχος (hḗsukhos) — careful
- Gujarati: સાવધાન (sāvdhān) — careful
- Hebrew: זָהִיר (zahír) — careful
- Hindi: सावधान (sāvdhān) — careful
- Hindi: सतर्क (satark) — careful
- Hungarian: óvatos — careful
- Indonesian: waspada — careful
- Interlingua: caute — careful
- Irish: aireach — careful
- Irish: faichilleach — careful
- Italian: cauto — careful
- Italian: ritenuto — careful
- Italian: oculato — careful
- Japanese: 慎重な (shinchō na) — careful
- Kazakh: сақ (saq) — careful
- Kazakh: абай (abai) — careful
- Khmer: ប្រយ័ត្ន (prɑɑyat) — careful
- Korean: 조심스럽다 (josimseureopda) — careful
- Korean: 신중하다 (sinjunghada) — careful
- Kyrgyz: сак (sak) — careful
- Lao: ລະມັດລະວັງ (la mat la wang) — careful
- Lao: ຮອບຄອບ (hǭp khǭp) — careful
- Lao: ຄ່ຽມ (khīam) — careful
- Lao: ລະມັດ — careful
- Lao: ລະວັງ (la wang) — careful
- Latin: cautus — careful
- Latvian: piesardzīgs — careful
- Lithuanian: atsargus — careful
- Lithuanian: apdairus — careful
- Macedonian: пре́тпазлив (prétpazliv) — careful
- Macedonian: внима́телен (vnimátelen) — careful
- Māori: mohito — careful
- Māori: tūpato — careful
- Marathi: सावध (sāvadh) — careful
- Mongolian: болгоомжтой (bolgoomžtoj) — careful
- Mongolian: хашир (xašir) — careful
- Khiamniungan Naga: wātsōu — careful
- Norwegian Bokmål: forsiktig — careful
- Persian: محتاط (mohtât) — careful
- Polish: ostrożny — careful
- Portuguese: cuidadoso — careful
- Portuguese: cauteloso — careful
- Romanian: precaut — careful
- Russian: осторо́жный (ostoróžnyj) — careful
- Russian: внима́тельный (vnimátelʹnyj) — careful
- Russian: осмотри́тельный (osmotrítelʹnyj) — careful
- Scottish Gaelic: cùramach — careful
- Serbo-Croatian: о̏пре̄зан — careful
- Serbo-Croatian: бу́дан — careful
- Serbo-Croatian: па̀жљив — careful
- Serbo-Croatian: ȍprēzan — careful
- Serbo-Croatian: búdan — careful
- Serbo-Croatian: pàžljiv — careful
- Slovak: opatrný — careful
- Slovak: obozretný — careful
- Slovene: previden — careful
- Spanish: cauto — careful
- Spanish: cauteloso — careful
- Spanish: precavido — careful
- Swedish: försiktig — careful
- Swedish: varsam — careful
- Swedish: varlig — careful
- Swedish: aktsam — careful
- Tajik: боэҳтиёт (boehtiyot) — careful
- Tajik: эҳтиёткор (ehtiyotkor) — careful
- Tatar: сак (saq) — careful
- Thai: ระวัง (rá-wang) — careful
- Thai: รอบคอบ (rɔ̂ɔp-kɔ̂ɔp) — careful
- Thai: สุขุม (sù-kǔm) — careful
- Thai: ระมัดระวัง (rá-mát-rá-wang) — careful
- Tocharian B: imassu — careful
- Turkish: dikkatli — careful
- Turkish: ihtiyatlı — careful
- Turkmen: aýawly — careful
- Ukrainian: обере́жний (oberéžnyj) — careful
- Ukrainian: оба́чний (obáčnyj) — careful
- Urdu: ساودھان (sāvdhān) — careful
- Urdu: سترک (satark) — careful
- Urdu: محتاط (muhtāt) — careful
- Uyghur: ئېھتىياتچان (ëhtiyatchan) — careful
- Uzbek: ehtiyotkor — careful
- Vietnamese: cẩn trọng — careful
- Vietnamese: cẩn thận — careful
- Volapük: prüdik — careful
- Winnebago: hirakikaraxjį — careful
- Yiddish: פֿאָרזיכטיק (forzikhtik) — careful