Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Watchful |
WatchfulAdjective1. Carefully observant or attentive; on the lookout for possible danger; "a policy of open-eyed awareness"; "the vigilant eye of the town watch"; "there was a watchful dignity in the room"; "a watchful parent with a toddler in tow". 2. Experiencing or accompanied by sleeplessness; "insomniac old people"; "insomniac nights"; "lay sleepless all night"; "twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights"- Shakespeare. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "watchful" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
Synonyms: WatchfulSynonyms: argus-eyed (adj), insomniac (adj), open-eyed (adj), sleepless (adj), vigilant (adj), wakeful (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Attention | Adjective: attentive, mindful, observant, regardful; alive to, awake to; observing; Verb: alert, open-eyed; intent on, taken up with, occupied with, engaged in; engrossed in, wrapped in, absorbed, rapt, transfixed, riveted, mesmerized, hypnotized; glued to (the TV); breathless; preoccupied; (inattentive); watchful; (careful); breathless, undistracted, upon the stretch; on the watch; (expectant). |
Care | Guarded, on one's guard; on the qui vivre, on the alert, on watch, on the lookout; awake, broad awake, vigilant; watchful, wakeful, wistful; Argus-eyed; wide awake; (intelligent); on the watch for (expectant). |
Caution | Adjective: cautious, wary, guarded; on one's guard; (watchful); cavendo tutus; in medio tutissimus; vigilant. |
Intelligence Wisdom | Prudent; (cautious); sober, stand, solid; considerate, politic, wise in one's generation; watchful; provident; (prepared); in advance of one' age; wise as a serpent, wise as Solomon, wise as Solon. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Watchful |
| English words defined with "watchful": argus-eyed, Aviseful ♦ chariness, Circumspective ♦ discern, distinguish ♦ Guardful ♦ heads-up ♦ insomniac ♦ keep one's eyes open, keep one's eyes peeled, keep one's eyes skinned ♦ make out ♦ Observative, On one's guard, on the alert, on the job, open-eyed ♦ pick out ♦ recognise, recognize ♦ sleepless, Still and anon, Surveillant ♦ take care, tell apart, To care for ♦ unwariness ♦ vigilant, vigilantly ♦ wakeful, Wareful, wariness, wary, watchfully, wide-awake. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "watchful": Eye ♦ Grave ♦ Lick into Shape ♦ Ostrich Eggs in Churches ♦ WILSON. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "watchful": Vigil. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | There is evil there that does not sleep, and the Great Eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust, the very air you breathe is a poisonous fume (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; writing credit: Frances Walsh) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Watchful Waiting (1916) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Keeping a watchful eye. |  | Safi, French Morocco--American transports and landing barges complete operations under the watchful eyes of Navy carrier-based planes. An SBD, Douglas Scout Bomber can be seen upper right. Safi lies about 130 miles south of Casablanca on Africa's west coa. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Felicia D. Hemans | There's beauty all around our paths, if but our watchful eyes can trace it midst familiar things, and through their lowly guise. |
John Keble | The watchful mother tarries nigh, though sleep has closed her infants eyes. |
Thomson | More firm and sure the hand of courage strikes, when it obeys the watchful eye of caution. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Be watchful. |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | His silent watchful manner had grown upon him and he took little part in the games |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | He was watchful and ringed with trouble |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | For a woman with uterine fibroids that are not symptomatic the best therapy may be watchful waiting. (references) | |
For men with early stage prostate cancer, researchers also are comparing treatment with watchful waiting. (references) | ||
Surgery to remove tumors completely is one option, but may result in hearing loss. Other options include partial removal of tumors, radiation, and, if the tumors are not progressing rapidly, the conservative approach of watchful waiting. (references) | ||
Economic History | Guatemala | Foreigners are not singled out as the targets of crime but, like Guatemalans, must remain watchful. (references) |
Indonesia | Americans also should be watchful while in urban areas, where demonstrations and other violence can occur without warning. (references) | |
Haiti | Under the watchful eyes of international peacekeepers, restored Haitian authorities organized nationwide local and parliamentary elections in June 1995. A pro-Aristide, multi-party coalition called the Lavalas Political Organization (OPL) swept into power at all levels. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
James Monroe | 1817-1825 | The Legislature is the watchful guardian over the public purse. |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | By the watchful eye of self-interest the agents of the people in the State governments are repressed and kept within the limits of a just economy. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Watchful" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.29% of the time. "Watchful" is used about 280 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) | 99.29% | 278 | 17,541 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.71% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 280 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "watchful": be watchful ♦ watchful nights ♦ watchful waiting. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "watchful": ever-watchful. | |
| 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. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
watchful eye | 8 |
waiting watchful | 8 |
watchful waiting for prostate cancer | 3 |
coastline dramatic eye pacific thriving under watchful | 2 |
watchful | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "watchful"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | vigjilues (vigilant), vigjilent (alert, argus-eyed, unwinking, vigilant, wakeful), syhapur (awake, leery, lidless, vigilant, wary, wide awake), syçelë (open-eyed, wakeful, wary). (various references) | |
Arabic | يقظ (alert, awake, awoke, careful, circumspect, jaunty, lively, mindful, napless, observant, on duty, open-eyed, prompt, springy, vigilant, wakeful, wary, wide awake), مؤرق, ساهر (napless), أرق (insomnia, wakeful, wakefulness). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | внимателен (affable, alert, attentive, careful, cautious, circumspect, considerate, delicate, guarded, heedful, intent, nice, precautious, scrupulous, thoughtful, ware, wary), наблюдателен (observant, observation, observational, penetrating, unwinking), зорък (argus-eyed), бдящ, бдителен (alert, awake, hawk-eyed, jealous, observant, open-eyed, unsleeping, unwinking, vigilant, wakeful, waking, wary, wide awake). (various references) | |
Czech | ostražitý (alert, vigilant, wary, wide awake), bdìlý (alert, unsleeping, vigilant, wide awake). (various references) | |
Farsi | پاسدار (Guard, Guardsman, Watchman), مواظب (Alert, Assiduous, Attendant, Attentive, Aware, Careful, Cautious, Heedful, Shy, Tooter, Watchman), مراقبت (Lookout, Ovservation, Surveillance, Vigilance), مراقب (Lookout, Observant, Observer, Onlooker, Vigilant, Watcher, Watchman), هشیاری , دقیق (Accurate, Astringent, Astute, Exquisite, Literal, Particular, Precise, Precision, Punctilious, Punctual, Scholastic, Scrutinizer, Set, Sound, Stringent, Subtle, Tender, Tenuous, Wistful), بی خواب . (various references) | |
Finnish | varovainen (careful, cautious, prudent), valpas (alert, vigilant, wakeful), tarkkaavainen (attentive, heedful, observant). (various references) | |
French | vigilant (wakeful, wary). (various references) | |
German | wachsam (alert, observant, on one's guard, vigilant, vigilantly, wakeful, wakefully, wary, watchfully). (various references) | |
Greek | προσεκτικόσ (advertent, attentive, canny, careful, cautious, chary, chary of, close, heedful, mindful, observing, painstaking, precautious, regardful, tactful, thoughtful, wakeful, wary). (various references) | |
Hebrew | פקוח עין, ער י (alert, aware, pert, sprightly, vigilant, wakeful, wide awake). (various references) | |
Hungarian | éber (alert, awake, sleepless, to be wide awake, to keep the eyes peeled, unsleeping, vigilant, wakeful, wide awake). (various references) | |
Indonesian | waspada (attentive, qui, vigilant, wide awake). (various references) | |
Irish | féighlíoch. (various references) | |
Italian | vigile (alert, fireman, heedful, observant, policeman, vigil, vigilant, wakeful). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | "心深い (wary). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ようじ"ぶかい (wary). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | atchfulway.(various references) | |
Portuguese | vivo (above-ground, active, acute, adroit, agile, alert, alive, argute, bobbish, bouncing, brainy, breezy, bright, brisk, buoyant, chirpy, clear-sighted, clinking, coltish, cork, corky, crisp, dapper, diagram, fervent, frisky, gaudy, gay, graphic, graphical, hasty, hurry, intense, juicy, keen, kittenish, knowing, light, lightsome, live, lively, living, luminous, lusty, mercurial, mettled, mettlesome, nimble, nippy, parky, perky, pert, picturesque, poignant, quick, racy, rattling, resilient, shrewd, smart, spanking, speaking, spirited, sprightly, spry, stirring, subtil, subtile, subtle, swift, swift-handed, vivacious, vivid, volatile, warm, zippy), vigilante (acock, argus-eyed, awake, hawk-eyed, observant, on the alert, open-eyed, pop-eyed, unsleeping, unwinking, vigilant, wakeful, waking), esperto (agile, astute, bobbish, brainy, bright, clever, cute, informed, ingenious, intelligent, knowing, live, politic, salted, sharp, shrewd, sly, smart, sprightly, stirring, tricksy, wide-awake), cauteloso (cagey, cannie, cautionary, cautious, deliberate, gingerly, guarded, heedful, mature, prudent, reserved, vigilant, wary), atento (argus-eyed, attentive, careful, hawk-eyed, intent, mindful, observant, regardful, wary), alerta (acock, adroit, agile, alarm, alert, brisk, keen, prompt, unwinking, vigilant, wakeful, waking). (various references) | |
Romanian | vigilent (alert, unwinking, vigilant, wakeful), treaz (alert, astir, awake, sleepless, slumberless, sober, unwinking, vigilant, wakeful, watching), neadormit (active, alert, attentive, awake, tireless, unwinking, vigilant), atent (advertent, alert, amiable, attentive, attentively, careful, carefully, close, closely, complaisant, considerate, courteous, curious, deliberately, delicate, heedful, intent, jealous, listening, mindfully, nice, observant, observantly, painstaking, regardful, searching, tender). (various references) | |
Russian | осторожный (cagey, cagy, canny, cautious, chary, circumspect, circumspective, discreet, gingerly, prudent, wary), бдительный (alert, Argus-eyed, hawk-eyed, open-eyed, unsleeping, unwinking, vigilant, wakeful, waking, ware, wide awake, wide-awake). (various references) | |
Scottish | aireachail (observant). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | na oprezu (alert: on the alert, qui vive: on the qui vive), budan (argus-eyed, awake, sleepless, unsleeping, vigilant, wakeful, ware). (various references) | |
Spanish | vigilante (alert, caretaker, keeper, observant, overlooker, Proctor, superintendent, unsleeping, vigilant, wakeful). (various references) | |
Swedish | vaksam (all eyes, hawk-eyed, on the alert, open-eared, open-eyed, vigilant, wakeful). (various references) | |
Turkish | uyanık (alert, argus-eyed, astir, awake, aware, canny, conscious, enterprising, fly, guarded, heady, leery, nimble, on the alert, open-eyed, sharp, shrewd, sleepless, smart, unwinking, vigilant, wakeful, waking, wary, wide awake, with it), tetikte (argus-eyed, at full cock, aware, guarded, on the alert, quick on the trigger, unwinking, vigilant, wakeful), dikkatli (argus-eyed, assiduous, attentive, canny, careful, cautious, circumspect, gingerly, heedful, intense, intent, mindful, particular, regardful, rigorous, scrupulous, sleepless, solicitous, studious, thoughtful, wary). (various references) | |
Turkmen | sak (vigilant), ideg-sorag (investigative, search), idediji, hьюgдr (alert, vigilant). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | уважний (attent, attentive, careful, considerate, heedful, mindful, nice, observant, observative, observing, ponderate, thoughtful), обережний (alert, canny, careful, cautionary, cautious, chary, circumspect, circumspective, deliberate, discreet, fabian, gingerly, heedful, precautious, tender, up and coming, ware, wary), недовірливий (defiant, diffident, distrustful, incredulous, mistrustful, nullifidian, shy, trustless), насторожений (alert, circumspect, circumspective, listening, prick-eared, wary). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | thận trọng (advisedly, box, calculating, careful, cautious, chary, circumspect, considerate, discreet, guarded, politic, prudent, prudential, tender, vigilant, wary, wide awake), thao thức (wakeful), không ngủ (sleepless, unsleeping), cảnh giác (flew, fly, qui vive, vigilant, wary), đề phòng thức. (various references) | |
Welsh | gwyliadwrus (alert, cautious), disgwylgar (expectant). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | vigilans, vigilantem, vigilantes, vigilantesque. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Revelation Chapter 3, Verse 2 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Ginou grhgorwn kai sthrixon ta loipa a mellei apoqanein ou gar eurhka sou ta erga peplhrwmena enwpion tou qeou |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Esto vigilans et confirma cetera quae moritura erant non enim invenio opera tua plena coram Deo meo |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Be thou wakynge, and conferme thou othere thingis, that weren to diynge; for Y fynde not thi werkis fulle bifore my God. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | Be awake and strength the thynges which remayne that are redy to dye. For I have not founde thy workes perfaycte before god. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | Be on the watch, and make strong the rest of the things which are near to death; because as judged by me your works have not come up to God's measure. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Revelation Chapter 3, Verse 2 |
| Cebuano | Pagmata, ug lig-ona ang nanghibilin nga hapit na mamatay, kay ang imong mga buhat wala ko makita nga hingpit sa atubangan sa akong Dios. |
| Croatian | Budan budi i utvrdi ostatak koji tek što ne umre. Doista, ne naðoh da su ti djela pred Bogom mojim savršena. |
| Danish | Bliv vågen og styrk det øvrige, som ellers vilde dø; thi jeg har ikke fundet dine Gerninger fuldkommede for min Gud. |
| Dutch | Zijt wakende, en versterk het overige, dat sterven zou; want Ik heb uw werken niet vol gevonden voor God. |
| Finnish | Heräjä valvomaan ja vahvista jäljellejääneitä, niitä, jotka ovat olleet kuolemaisillaan; sillä minä en ole havainnut sinun tekojasi täydellisiksi Jumalani edessä. |
| French | Sois vigilant, et affermis le reste qui est près de mourir; car je n`ai pas trouvé tes oeuvres parfaites devant mon Dieu. |
| German | Werde wach und stärke das andere, das sterben will; denn ich habe deine Werke nicht völlig erfunden vor Gott. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Sebab itu, bangunlah, dan perkuatlah apa yang masih ada pada kalian sebelum itu mati sama sekali. Sebab Aku dapati bahwa apa yang kalian lakukan, belum satu pun yang sempurna di hadapan Allah. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Jagalah dan kuatkanlah segala yang ada tinggal dan yang hendak mati; karena Aku dapati tiada barang perbuatanmu yang sempurna pada pemandangan Tuhanku. |
| Latvian | Esi nomodâ un stiprini tos, kas taisâs mirt, jo es neatrodu tavus darbus pilnvçrtîgus sava Dieva priekðâ! |
| Maori | Kia mataara, whakaukia nga mea e toe nei, ka tata nei te mate; kahore hoki ahau i kite i au mahi kia tino rite ki te aroaro o toku Atua. |
| Norwegian | Bli våken, og styrk det annet, som var på vei til å dø! for jeg har ikke funnet dine gjerninger fullkomne for min Gud. |
| Portuguese | Sê vigilante, e confirma o restante, que estava para morrer; porque não tenho achado as tuas obras perfeitas diante do meu Deus. |
| Rumanian | Vegheazq, wi kntqrewte ce rqmkne, care e pe moarte, cqci n`am gqsit faptele tale desqvkrwite knaintea Dumnezeului Meu. |
| Shuar | Shintiarta. Kajinia nu Umpuím ekeemakta. Kame Yusjai iisam pénker Túrichuitme. |
| Spanish | Sé vigilante y refuerza las cosas que quedan y están a punto de morir, porque no he hallado que tus obras hayan sido acabadas delante de Dios. |
| Swahili | Amka! Imarisha chochote chema kilichokubakia kabla nacho hakijatoweka kabisa. Maana, mpaka sasa, sijayaona matendo yako kuwa ni makamilifu mbele ya Mungu wangu. |
| Swedish | Vakna upp och håll dig vaken, och styrk det som ännu är kvar, det som har varit nära att dö. Ty jag har icke funnit dina gärningar vara fullkomliga inför min Gud. |
| Uma | Pemata-mokoi! Perohoi pepangala' -ni to ria-pidi kako'ia-na mate omea. Apa' kuhilo hawe'ea to nibabehi tetu, ko'ia ria to sipolea hi poncilo Alata'ala Tuama-ku. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "watchful": watchfully, watchfulness, watchfulnesses. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "watchful" (pronounced wÄ"khful) |
| 3 | -f u l | apocryphal, artful, awful, baffle, baleful, bashful, beautiful, blissful, boastful, bountiful, careful, cheerful, colorful, deceitful, delightful, disdainful, disgraceful, disrespectful, distasteful, distrustful, doleful, doubtful, dreadful, duffel, dutiful, eventful, faithful, falafel, fanciful, fateful, fearful, fistful, fitful, flavorful, forceful, forgetful, fretful, frightful, fruitful, gainful, gleeful, graceful, grateful, harmful, hateful, healthful, helpful, hopeful, houseful, hurtful, sorrowful, soulful, spiteful, stifle, stressful, successful, suspenseful, tactful, tasteful, tearful, thankful, insightful, joyful, kerfuffle, lawful, lustful, masterful, meaningful, merciful, mindful, mistrustful, mournful, muffle, needful, neglectful, painful, panful, peaceful, pitiful, playful, plentiful, powerful, prayerful, purposeful, raffle, regretful, remorseful, resentful, reshuffle, resourceful, respectful, restful, riffle, rifle, rightful, rueful, ruffle, scornful, scuffle, shameful, shuffle, sinful, skillful, thoughtful, trifle, triumphal, truffle, truthful, tuneful, uneventful, unfaithful, ungrateful, unhealthful, unhelpful, unlawful, unsuccessful, untruthful, useful, vengeful, waffle, wasteful, willful, wishful, wistful, woeful, wonderful, worshipful, wrongful, youthful, zestful. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-f-h-l-t-u-w" | |
-2 letters: hatful, waucht. | |
-3 letters: awful, chufa, fault, latch, watch. | |
-4 letters: calf, caul, chat, chaw, claw, cult, fact, flat, flaw, haft, half, halt, haul, haut, hula, lath, tach, talc, thaw, tufa, waft, waul, what. | |
-5 letters: act, aft, alt, awl, cat, caw, cut, fat, flu, hat, haw, hut, lac, lat, law, tau, taw, twa, uta, wat, wha. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-f-h-l-t-u-w" | |
+2 letters: watchfully. | |
+4 letters: watchfulness. | |
| 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. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Quotations: Speeches 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Bible Trace 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
