Cautious

Definitions: Cautious

Cautious

Adjective

1. Showing careful forethought; "reserved and cautious; never making swift decisions"; "a cautious driver".

2. Avoiding excess; "a conservative estimate".

3. Cautious in attitude and careful in actions; prudent; "a cautious answer"; "very cautious about believing everything she was told".

4. Unwilling to take risks.

Noun

1. People who are fearful and cautious; "whitewater rafting is not for the timid".

Date "cautious" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references)

Etymology: Cautious \Cau"tious\, adjective. [Compare to Latin cautus, from caver. See Caution.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Cautious

Synonyms: conservative (adj), timid (n). (additional references)

Antonyms: incautious (adj), brave (n). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Care	Verb: be careful; Adjective: reck; take care; (be cautious); pay attention to; take care of; look to, look after, see to, see after; keep an eye on, keep a sharp eye on; chaperon, matronize, play gooseberry; keep watch, keep watch and ward; mount guard, set watch, watch; keep in sight, keep in view; mind, mind one's business.
	Adjective: careful regardful, heedful; taking care; Verb: particular; prudent; (cautious); considerate; thoughtful; (deliberative); provident; (prepared); alert; (active); sure-footed.
Caution	Adjective: cautious, wary, guarded; on one's guard; (watchful); cavendo tutus; in medio tutissimus; vigilant.
	Verb: be cautious; Adjective: take care, take heed, take good care; have a care mind, what one is about; be on one's guard; (keep watch); "make assurance doubly sure".
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Cautious

English words defined with "cautious": beware ♦ cagey, cagy, Cannei, carefulness, caution, cautious statement, cautiousness, chariness, chary, Circumspective ♦ dilatory ♦ especially, excursion, expedition ♦ Fabian, feel ♦ jaunt, junket ♦ mind ♦ opening, outing, overcautious, Overwary ♦ particularly, peculiarly, pleasure trip ♦ sashay, specially ♦ timid, To take heed ♦ unreserved, unwariness ♦ Wareful, wariness. (references)

Specialty definitions using "cautious": Ale-house ♦ Desert ♦ Gloves, Goat, God ♦ Ink-stand ♦ Rubber ♦ Shoes, Sickness. (references)

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Always the cautious scholar, huh, Dr. Hunt? (Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death; writing credit: J.F. Lawton)
Movie/TV Titles	The Cautious Twins (1960)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	A Cautious Patriotism: The American Churches & the Second World War (reference) Cautious Crusade: Franklin D. Roosevelt, American Public Opinion, and the War Against Nazi Germany (reference) Cautious Lover (Silhouette Desire, No 253) (reference) Cautious Revolution: The European Community Arrives (reference) CGS.S (CanWest Global Communications): With The Post Consolidated, Q1 Results In Line; Tone Remains Cautious [DOWNLOAD: PDF] (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	People involved in trapping and skinning wild carnivores, especially bobcats, should be extremely cautious about exposure to Y. pestis vectors.Credit: CDC.		Cautious Uncle Sam!.Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Confucius	The cautious seldom err.
Edmund Burke	A conscientious man would be cautious how he dealt in blood.
John Boyle O'Reilly	The organized charity, scrimped and iced, in the name of a cautious, statistical Christ.
John Zimmerman	Put this restriction on your pleasures, be cautious that they injure no being that lives.
Johnson	Cautious age suspects the flattering form, and only credits what experience tells.
Publilius Syrus	The timid man calls himself cautious, the sordid man thrifty.
Robert Burns	Prudent, cautious self-control, is wisdom's root.
Thomas Fuller	Thou ought to be nice, even to superstition, in keeping thy promises, and therefore equally cautious in making them.
V. S. Pritchett	The Canadian spirit is cautious, observant and critical where the American is assertive.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Emma	Austen, Jane	She was, besides, which was the worst of all, so cold, so cautious! There was no getting at her real opinion.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Recently high doses of pancreatic enzyme supplements were found to be associated with development of colonic strictures in a few patients, causing physicians to be more cautious in dosing. (references)
		Be cautious about "slick" advertising and/or deals that sound "too good to be true." Remember, they usually are. There is a lot of competition resulting in a great deal of advertising and bidding for your business. (references)
Business		U.S. Wireless companies operating in Uzbekistan must have an cautious approach towards further investments. (references)
		The cautious stance on price reform and the importance placed on other state planning functions is likely to continue. (references)
		Because of the above mentioned major obstacles foreign firms are very cautious about investing in local production facilities. (references)
Civil Liberties	Yemen	Although most citizens are uninhibited in their private discussions of domestic and foreign policies, some are cautious in public, fearing harassment for criticism of the Government. (references)
	Armenia	Journalists remain cautious in their reporting, especially about proceedings in the courtroom, and the range of subjects the Government considers sensitive for national security reasons is large. (references)
Economic History	Yemen	Private construction activity, especially in Aden, is expanding, although at a cautious pace. (references)
Human Rights	Tunisia	The Tunisian Judges' Association published a communique on July 18 in cautious support of Yahiaoui, noting that the preferred forum for his criticisms would have been within the Association. (references)
Political Economy	VENEZUELA	Many investors, however, have been cautious in their plans due to long-term economic and political uncertainty. (references)
	UKRAINE	However, foreign firms need to develop cautious and long-term strategies that take into full account the problematic commercial environment. (references)
Trade	Dominican Rep	Nevertheless, American firms should be cautious accepting credit cards due to increased fraud. (references)
	Bulgaria	However, local banks are still very cautious in lending money to either private or state-owned enterprises. (references)
	Ecuador	However, U.S. companies are well advised to be very cautious about extending credit facilities to Ecuadorian companies. (references)
Travel	Kuwait	It is important to be a cautious consumer. (references)
	Liberia	U.S. citizens should be cautious of their surroundings at all times. (references)
	Nepal	American citizens should be extremely cautious traveling overland in Nepal, especially by bus. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Phrase(s)
Andrew Weil	Well, you know, if you've got hormone receptor positive breast cancer, I would say to err on the side of caution, I would not eat soy. I think that we don't know enough, but I would be cautious there.
Senator Carl Levin	I think there is a real difference going on there, and I'm just hoping that the president will consider the views of his top military leaders, because they're much more cautious than some of the civilians in the Pentagon.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
Ronald Reagan	1981-1989	I recognize we must be cautious in claiming that God is on our side, but I think it's all right to keep asking if we're on His side.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Cautious" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.39% of the time. "Cautious" is used about 1,143 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)	99.39%	1,136	6,738
Noun (proper)	0.61%	7	133,076
Total	100.00%	1,143	N/A

Expressions using "cautious": be cautious ♦ cautious statement ♦ doubly cautious ♦ overly cautious. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "cautious": cautious-minded.
	Ending with "cautious": over-cautious, ultra-cautious.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "cautious"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaan		versigtig (careful), beleidvol (careful), behoedsaam (careful). (various references)

Albanian		i matur (abstinent, calculating, canny, careful, chary, chaste, circumlocutory, circumspect, circumspective, conservative, deliberate, discreet, forehanded, gingerly, judicious, moderate, provident, prudent, reasonable, sober, staid, thoughtful, wary, well advised, well balanced), i kujdesshëm (accurate, attentive, canny, careful, chary, circumspect, circumspective, conservative, considerate, deliberate, diligent, forethoughtful, forward-looking, grandmotherly, guarded, heedful, monitorial, observant, precise, thoughtful, up and coming, wary). (various references)

Arabic		‏محترس (alert, cagey, careful, chary, circumspect, prudent, vigilant, wary), ‏متحفظ (aloof, aloofness, careful, close, discreet, incommunicable, incommunicative, reserved, reticent, secretive, self contained, stand offish, taciturn, uncommunicative, wary), ‏حذر (admonish, advise, alert, alertness, be careful, be wise, beware, cagey, calculating, calculation, canny, care, careful, caution, cautiousness, chariness, chary, considerate, discreet, discreetness, discretion, exhort, fabian, forewarn, guard, guarded, guarding, heedful, leery, look behind, look out, lookout, mind, on the alert, on the lookout, prudence, prudent, safe, shy, shyness, sound an alarm, suspicious, take care, vigilance, vigilant, wariness, warn, wary, watch, wide awake). (various references)

Bulgarian		разсъдлив (circumspect, discerning, judicial, prudent, reasoning), внимателен (affable, alert, attentive, careful, circumspect, considerate, delicate, guarded, heedful, intent, nice, precautious, scrupulous, thoughtful, ware, wary, watchful), предпазлив (cagey, canny, careful, chary, circumspect, cosy, deliberate, deliberative, discreet, fabian, gingerly, guarded, open-eyed, precautious, prudent, sparing, ware, wary). (various references)

Chinese		谨慎 (Discreet, Discretion, Prudential), 謹慎 (prudent), 謹 , 獧 (timid), 狷 (timid), 僖 (joyful, merry), 慎重 (careful, prudent), 慎 , �"細 (attentive, careful). (various references)

Czech		opatrný (cagey, cagy, cannie, canny, careful, chary, circumspect, circumspective, conservative, gingerly, guarded, prudent, safe, shy, wary), obezřetný (circumspect, deliberate, politic, provident, prudent, wary). (various references)

Danish		forsigtig (careful). (various references)

Dutch		voorzichtig (careful, carefully, gently, lightly, thoughtful), behoedzaam (careful). (various references)

Esperanto		singardema (careful), singarda (careful). (various references)

Farsi		مواظب (Alert, Assiduous, Attendant, Attentive, Aware, Careful, Heedful, Shy, Tooter, Watchful, Watchman), محتاط (Chary, Considerate, Demure, Gingerly, Scrupulous), هوشیار (Alert, Astute, Conscious, Observant, Sober, Vigilant). (various references)

Finnish		varovainen (careful, prudent, watchful), arvelevainen (hesitating). (various references)

French		prudent (calculating, canny, careful). (various references)

Frisian		foarsichtich (careful). (various references)

German		vorsichtig (cagey, canny, careful, carefully, cautiouns, cautiously, charily, chary, circumspect, circumspectly, conservative, deliberate, gingerly, guarded, guardedly, prudent, safe, safely, steady, tentative, warily, wary), behutsam (careful, cautions, cautiouns, delicate, gentle, gingerly). (various references)

Greek		προσεκτικόσ (advertent, attentive, canny, careful, chary, chary of, close, heedful, mindful, observing, painstaking, precautious, regardful, tactful, thoughtful, wakeful, wary, watchful), επιφυλακτικόσ (canny, chary, chary of, gingerly, gingery, guarded, non committal, offish, qualified, reserved, uncommunicative, undemonstrative). (various references)

Hebrew		ז�"יר (calculating, careful, chary, discreet, guarded, mindful, prudent, vigilant, wary). (various references)

Hungarian		óvatos (alert, be careful, cagey, cagy, careful, chary, circumspect, conservative, discreet, fabian, guarded, heedful, prudent, reserved, stealthy, wary). (various references)

Indonesian		panjang kira-kira (intelligent, wise), berhati-hati (careful, carefully, conscientious). (various references)

Italian		cauto (cagey, careful, chary, circumspect, deliberate, gingerly, heedful, safe, wary). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		慎み深い (discreet, modest), 如才無い (adroit, clever, shrewd, smart, tactful), 如才ない (adroit, clever, shrewd, smart, tactful). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		つつしみぶかい (discreet, modest), じょさいない (adroit, clever, shrewd, smart, tactful). (various references)

Korean		계심하�". (various references)

Manx		twoaieagh (apprehensive, aware, careful, circumspect, northern person, northerner, northsider, on the look out, vigilant, wary), arreydagh (alert, attentive, caretaker, circumspect, immigrant). (various references)

Norwegian		forsiktig (careful, guardedly). (various references)

Pig Latin		autiouscay

Portuguese		prudente (advised, canny, careful, cattish, chary, circumspective, discreet, far sighted, far-sightedly, forehanded, heedful, longstanding, non committal, politic, provident, prudent, prudential, reasonable, sagacious, sage, sensible, sound, wary, well advised, well-judged, wise, wizard), cauteloso (cagey, cannie, cautionary, deliberate, gingerly, guardedly, heedless, mature, prudent, reserved, vigilant, wary, watchful). (various references)

Romanian		circumspect (circumspect, deliberate, discreet, thoughtful, wary), chibzuit (balanced, canny, circumspect, deliberate, discreet, economic, economical, judicious, measured, provident, providently, prudent, reflective, thought-out, thrifty, wary, wise), rezervat (cagey, cagily, cold, distant, dry, offish, reserved, secretive, self contained, shy, stand offish, sullen, unapproachable), prudent (careful, chary, deliberate, discreet, gingerly, heedful, prudent, safe, wary, well advised, wide awake), prevãzãtor (chary, deliberate, discreet, far-seeing, provident, providently, prudent, thoughtful, wary, wide awake, wise), precaut (cagey, cautiously, circumspect, gingerly, precautious, prudent, safe, thoughtful, warily, wary), grijuliu (advertent, attentive, careful, chary, considerate, heedful, jealous, tender, thoughtful, wary). (various references)

Russian		осторожный (cagey, cagy, canny, chary, circumspect, circumspective, discreet, gingerly, prudent, wary, watchful). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		smotren (careful), predostrožan (precautionary, provident, providential, vigilant), obazriv (careful, circumspect, forethoughtful, heedful, prudent, thoughtful). (various references)

Spanish		prudente (advisable, careful, circumspect, circumspective, deliberate, discreet, politic, prudent, right-minded, safe, sound, thoughtful, wise), precavido (careful, chary, forehanded, thoughtful), circunspecto (careful, circumspect, circumspective, discreet, thoughtful). (various references)

Swedish		varsam (careful, wary), försiktig (cagey, canny, careful, chary, circumspect, circumspective, conservative, deliberate, gingerly, guarded, mealy mouthed, tentative, wary). (various references)

Turkish		tedbirli (advised, cagey, canny, careful, circumspect, deliberate, deliberative, discreet, fabian, fail-proof, fail-safe, forethoughtful, guarded, politic, precautionary, prudent, prudential, tactical, wary, well advised), sakınan (chary, circumspect, timid), ihtiyatlı (cagey, chary, deliberative, discreet, fabian, forethoughtful, guarded, heedful, politic, precautionary, provident, prudent, prudential, restrained, shy, temperate, undemonstrative, vigilant, waiting, wary, well advised), dikkatli (argus-eyed, assiduous, attentive, canny, careful, circumspect, gingerly, heedful, intense, intent, mindful, particular, regardful, rigorous, scrupulous, sleepless, solicitous, studious, thoughtful, wary, watchful). (various references)

Turkmen		дtiяaзly (careful), aяawly. (various references)

Ukranian		обережний (alert, canny, careful, cautionary, chary, circumspect, circumspective, deliberate, discreet, fabian, gingerly, heedful, precautious, tender, up and coming, ware, wary, watchful), обачний (awake, canny, careful, chary, circumspect, circumspective, deliberate, fly, guarded, hard-headed, provident, prudent, wary, wise), передбачливий (clairvoyant, forehanded, foreseeing, precautious, prescient, provident). (various references)

Vietnamese		cẩn thận (canny, careful, closely, conscientious, religious, tender, wary), thận trọng (advisedly, box, calculating, careful, chary, circumspect, considerate, discreet, guarded, politic, prudent, prudential, tender, vigilant, wary, watchful, wide awake). (various references)

Welsh		gwyliadwrus (alert, watchful), gofalus (careful), gochelgar (wary). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	cautus. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "cautious": cautiously, cautiousness, cautiousnesses. (additional references)
	Words ending with "cautious": hypercautious, incautious, overcautious, supercautious, ultracautious. (additional references)
	Words containing "cautious": incautiously, incautiousness, incautiousnesses. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Cautious" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: acetious, acutus, caitious, catious, caulibus, cautio, cautios, cautius, cautous, cuatious, cutious, nautious. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "cautious" (pronounced kô"shus)
4	-ô" sh u s	nauseous.
3	-sh u s	ambitious, anxious, atrocious, audacious, auspicious, capacious, capricious, conscientious, conscious, contentious, delicious, efficacious, expeditious, facetious, factitious, fallacious, ferocious, fictitious, flirtatious, fractious, gracious, hellacious, herbaceous, inauspicious, infectious, injudicious, judicious, loquacious, luscious, malicious, noxious, nutritious, obnoxious, ostentatious, overambitious, pernicious, precious, precocious, predaceous, pretentious, propitious, pugnacious, rambunctious, rapacious, repetitious, salacious, sebaceous, seditious, semiprecious, spacious, specious, subconscious, superstitious, surreptitious, suspicious, tenacious, tendentious, unconscious, unpretentious, vexatious, vicious, vivacious, voracious.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-c-i-o-s-t-u-u"
	-2 letters: coatis, coitus, scotia.
	-3 letters: ascot, autos, coast, coati, coats, costa, cutis, ictus, iotas, ostia, scout, scuta, stoai, stoic, tacos.
	-4 letters: acts, aits, asci, auto, cast, cats, ciao, cist, coat, cost, cots, cuts, iota, oast, oats, ocas, otic, oust, outs, sati, scat, scot, scut, stoa, suit, taco, taos, taus, tics, tuis, utas.
	-5 letters: act, ais.
	Words containing the letters "a-c-i-o-s-t-u-u"
	+2 letters: autoecious, cautiously, incautious.
	+3 letters: cumulations.
	+4 letters: auscultation, autoeciously, cautiousness, contumacious, fluctuations, incautiously, lucubrations, overcautious, punctuations, rambunctious, stratocumuli, transpicuous.
	+5 letters: accumulations, auscultations, elucubrations, hypercautious, sociocultural, structuration, supercautious, tubocurarines, ultracautious, uncustomarily.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.