| / English Dictionary |
CAUTIOUS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
People who are fearful and cautious
Example:
whitewater rafting is not for the timid
Synonyms:
cautious; timid
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("cautious" is a kind of...):
people ((plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively)
Derivation:
cautious (showing careful forethought)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Showing careful forethought
Example:
a cautious driver
Classified under:
Similar:
cagey; cagy; chary (characterized by great caution and wariness)
fabian (using cautious slow strategy to wear down opposition; avoiding direct confrontation)
gingerly (with extreme care or delicacy)
guarded; restrained (prudent)
overcautious (unnecessarily cautious)
Also:
unadventurous (lacking in boldness)
careful (exercising caution or showing care or attention)
Antonym:
incautious (lacking in caution)
Derivation:
caution (judiciousness in avoiding harm or danger)
cautious (people who are fearful and cautious)
cautiousness (the trait of being cautious; being attentive to possible danger)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Avoiding excess
Example:
a conservative estimate
Synonyms:
cautious; conservative
Classified under:
Similar:
moderate (being within reasonable or average limits; not excessive or extreme)
Context examples:
In a low, cautious voice, he said:—I have been considering what we had best do.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
I am of a cautious temper, and unwilling to risk my happiness in a hurry.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Some countries are more cautious, Belgium and Greece have set this limit at 3 volts/metre.
(Health threats caused by mobile phone radiation, EUROPARL TV)
A few minutes later he was disturbed by a gentle creaking of his own door, as though some one were pushing cautiously against it, and immediately afterwards he heard the soft thud of cautious footsteps upon the stair which led to the room above, followed by a confused noise and a muffled groan.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“When I left her in America,” she continued, “it was only because her health was weak, and the change might have done her harm. She was given to the care of a faithful Scotch woman who had once been our servant. Never for an instant did I dream of disowning her as my child. But when chance threw you in my way, Jack, and I learned to love you, I feared to tell you about my child. God forgive me, I feared that I should lose you, and I had not the courage to tell you. I had to choose between you, and in my weakness I turned away from my own little girl. For three years I have kept her existence a secret from you, but I heard from the nurse, and I knew that all was well with her. At last, however, there came an overwhelming desire to see the child once more. I struggled against it, but in vain. Though I knew the danger, I determined to have the child over, if it were but for a few weeks. I sent a hundred pounds to the nurse, and I gave her instructions about this cottage, so that she might come as a neighbour, without my appearing to be in any way connected with her. I pushed my precautions so far as to order her to keep the child in the house during the daytime, and to cover up her little face and hands so that even those who might see her at the window should not gossip about there being a black child in the neighbourhood. If I had been less cautious I might have been more wise, but I was half crazy with fear that you should learn the truth.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He began to get accurate measurement of his strength and his weakness, and to know when to be bold and when to be cautious.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
There is one day when you need to be more cautious, when Mars in Scorpio will oppose Uranus directly—November 24.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
He had played nearly every day at one club or other, but he was a cautious player, and usually rose a winner.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“What ho! below there!” I heard Latimer shout down the scuttle, too cautious to descend into the inferno of passion he could hear raging beneath him in the darkness.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
I left the window, and moved with little noise across the carpet; as I stooped to take off my shoes, a cautious hand tapped low at the door.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
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