precaution

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Previous caution or care; caution previously employed to prevent misfortune or to secure good.
  2. A measure taken beforehand to ward off evil or secure good or success; a precautionary act.
verb
  1. To warn or caution beforehand.
  2. To take precaution against.

Pronunciation

/pɹiːˈkɔːʃən/ /pɹiːˈkɔː.ʃən/ /pɹiːˈkɔ.ʃən/ /pɹiːˈkɑ.ʃən/ [pɹiːˈkɑ.ʃn̩] /pɹɪˈkɑ.ʃən/ [pɹɪˈkɑ.ʃn̩] En-us-precaution.ogg

Word forms

precaution precautions precautioning precautioned

Etymology

From French précaution, Latin praecautio, from praecavere, praecautum (“to guard against beforehand”); prae (“before”) + cavere (“be on one's guard”). See pre-, and caution.

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.