Cautious

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: cau=tious

CIDE DICTIONARY

Cautious, a. [Cf. L. cautus, fr. caver. See Caution.].

 Attentive to examine probable effects and consequences of acts with a view to avoid danger or misfortune; prudent; circumspect; wary; watchful; as, a cautious general.  [1913 Webster]
"Cautious feeling for another's pain."  [1913 Webster]
"Be swift to hear; but cautious of your tongue."

Syn. -- Wary; watchful; vigilant; prudent; circumspect; discreet; heedful; thoughtful; scrupulous; anxious; careful.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Cautious, adj. careful, prudent; attentive to safety.

Derivative

cautiously adv. cautiousness n.

Etymology

ME f. OF f. L: see CAUTION

THESAURUS

Cautious

alert, ambling, attentive, cagey, calculating, canny, careful, chary, circumspect, claudicant, considerate, cozy, crawling, creeping, creeping like snail, curious, deliberate, demurring, diffident, discreet, disinclined to believe, disposed to doubt, easy, expedient, faltering, flagging, foot-dragging, foresighted, forethoughtful, gentle, gingerly, gradual, guarded, halting, hard of belief, heedful, hesitant, hesitating, hobbled, hobbling, idle, impervious to persuasion, inconvincible, incredulous, indolent, jibbing, judicious, languid, languorous, lazy, leaving out nothing, leery, leisurely, limping, loving, lumbering, mindful, moderate, noncommittal, on guard, overlooking no possibility, pawky, poking, poky, politic, precautious, provident, prudent, regardful, relaxed, reluctant, safe, sauntering, scheming, scrupling, shilly-shallying, shrewd, shuffling, shy of belief, skeptical, slack, slothful, slow, slow as death, slow as molasses, slow as slow, slow to act, slow-crawling, slow-foot, slow-going, slow-legged, slow-moving, slow-paced, slow-poky, slow-running, slow-sailing, slow-stepped, sluggish, snail-paced, snaillike, solicitous, staggering, sticking, stickling, straining, strolling, suspecting, suspicious, tender, tentative, thorough, thoughtful, timid, toddling, tortoiselike, tottering, trudging, turtlelike, unadventurous, uncommunicative, unconvincible, uncredulous, undaring, unenterprising, unhurried, unpersuadable, unpersuasible, unprecipitate, unwilling to accept, vigilant, waddling, wary, watchful

ROGET THESAURUS

Cautious

Caution

N caution, cautiousness, discretion, prudence, cautel, heed, circumspection, calculation, deliberation, foresight, vigilance, warning, coolness, self-possession, self-command, presence of mind, sang froid, well-regulated mind, worldly wisdom, Fabian policy, cautious, wary, guarded, on one's guard, cavendo tutus, in medio tutissimus, vigilant, careful, heedful, cautelous, stealthy, chary, shy of, circumspect, prudent, discreet, politic, sure-footed, unenterprising, unadventurous, cool, steady, self-possessed, overcautious, cautiously, Int, have a care!, timeo Danaos, festina lente, ante victoriam ne canas triumphum, don't sing out victory before the triumph, give, every man thine ear but few thy voice, he who laughs last laughs best, il rit bien qui rit le dernier, ni firmes carta que no leas ni bebas agua que no v, nescit vox missa reverti, love all, trust a few, noli irritare leones, safe bind safe find, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.