precaution

See also: précaution

English

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.

Pronunciation
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

precaution (countable and uncountable, plural precautions)

  1. Previous caution or care; caution previously employed to prevent misfortune or to secure good
    his life was saved by precaution
    • John Henry Newman
      The ancient philosophers treasured up their supposed discoveries with miserable precaution.
  2. A measure taken beforehand to ward off evil or secure good or success; a precautionary act.
    to take precautions against risks of accident

Derived terms

Translations
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See also

Verb

precaution (third-person singular simple present precautions, present participle precautioning, simple past and past participle precautioned)

  1. (transitive) To warn or caution beforehand.
  2. (transitive, rare) To take precaution against.

Translations

Anagrams
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