Standard Lemma guide

incautious

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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.

  • US: /ɪnˈkɑʃəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɔːʃəs

1

adj

Meaning 1

careless, reckless, not exercising proper caution.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: uncautious

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective

Meaning 2

lacking in caution

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • an incautious remark
  • incautious talk

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: cautious

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

carelessly failing to exercise proper caution

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • an incautious step sent her headlong down the stairs

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in-bor. Middle English in- English in- English cautious English incautious From in- (negative prefix) + cautious.

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: непредпазлив (nepredpazliv) — careless, reckless, not exercising proper caution
  • Catalan: incaut — careless, reckless, not exercising proper caution
  • Dutch: onvoorzichtig — careless, reckless, not exercising proper caution
  • Finnish: varomaton — careless, reckless, not exercising proper caution
  • French: imprudent — careless, reckless, not exercising proper caution
  • French: négligent — careless, reckless, not exercising proper caution
  • German: unvorsichtig — careless, reckless, not exercising proper caution
  • Irish: anfhaiteach — careless, reckless, not exercising proper caution
  • Latin: incautus — careless, reckless, not exercising proper caution
  • Manx: neuhwoaieagh — careless, reckless, not exercising proper caution
  • Polish: nieostrożny — careless, reckless, not exercising proper caution
  • Portuguese: incauto — careless, reckless, not exercising proper caution
  • Romanian: neatent — careless, reckless, not exercising proper caution