Word.ws English Dictionary

caution

UK/ˈkɔːʃ(ə)n/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈkoːʃ(ə)n/

caution noun: prudence when faced with, or when expecting to face, danger; care taken in order to avoid risk or harm.

Noun

caution (countable and uncountable, plural cautions)

  1. Prudence when faced with, or when expecting to face, danger; care taken in order to avoid risk or harm.
    • take caution
    • have caution
  2. A careful attention to the probable effects of an act, in order that failure or harm may be avoided.
    • The guideline expressed caution against excessive radiographic imaging.
  3. Security; guaranty; bail.
    • The Parliament would yet give his majesty sufficient caution that the war should be vigorously prosecuted.1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed...
  4. (dated) One who draws attention or causes astonishment by their behaviour.
    • Oh, that boy, he's a caution! He does make me laugh.
    • ‘You are a caution,’ she said, when she came out. ‘I don't understand you.’1915, W. Somerset Maugham, chapter 58, in Of Human Bondage
  5. A formal warning given as an alternative to prosecution in minor cases.
  6. A yellow card.

Verb

caution (third-person singular simple present cautions, present participle cautioning, simple past and past participle cautioned)

  1. (transitive) To warn; to alert, advise that caution is warranted.
    • "Careful, Uwe," cautions my Venezuelan explorer friend, José Miguel Pérez, with a grim smile. "You're too big for us to carry back down."1989 May, Uwe George, “Venezuela's Islands in Time”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 535
    • In its May 1965 issue, Life magazine condemned skateboards as a “menace to limb and even to life,” and cautioned readers about riders who “take over the paths made for peaceful strollers.”2018 July 13, Jaime Marie Davis, “How photographers have captured skateboarding through generations”, in CNN
  2. (UK, transitive) To read someone their formal legal rights as part of a lawful arrest.
    • They're under arrest. Caution them, will you?1999 September 12, Anthony Horowitz et al., “Dead Man's Eleven”, in Midsomer Murders
  3. To give a yellow card.

caution meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

caution in Hindi

precept or warning against evil or danger
चेतावनी cetāvnī
careful attention, prudence
सावधानी sāvdhānī, चेतावनी cetāvnī, सतर्कता satarkatā, सजगता sajagtā
to warn
चेताना cetānā

caution in Tamil

எச்சரிக்கை, எச்சரித்தல், எச்சரிப்புச் செய், பிணையம், முன் மதி, முன்னறிவி

caution in Urdu

caution
ساودھان sāvdhān

caution in Bengali

careful attention, prudence
সতর্কীকরণ śotorkikron
More languagesFewer languages
caution in Telugu
పైలం pailaṁ
caution in Malayalam
പേണം pēṇaṁ, ജാഗ്രത jāgrata
caution in Kannada
ಎಚ್ಚರಿಸು eccarisu
caution in Gujarati
સાવચેતી
caution in Odia
ସାବଧାନତା, ସତର୍କତା
caution in Nepali
सावधानी, सावधानता
caution in Tagalog
paingat, paingatan
caution in Arabic
حَذَر ḥaḏar, حِيطَة ḥīṭa, اِحْتِيَاط iḥtiyāṭ
caution in Thai
คำเตือน kam-dtʉʉan, ข้อควรระวัง, เตือน dtʉʉan

Examples of caution in a sentence

  • exercise great caution
  • utmost caution is required when travelling in this dangerous neighbourhood
  • proceed without due caution
  • sound a note of caution
  • [...] and on the Saturday heavy seas pounded the W.R. on its exposed coastal stretch between Dawlish and Teignmouth, loosening the ballast and forcing trains to proceed with extreme caution.1960 December, “Talking of Trains: The railways and the Devon floods”, in Trains Illustrated, page 709:

All 40 example sentences with caution

Synonyms of caution

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of caution

Forms of caution

Noun
pluralcautions
Verb
third-person singular presentcautions
present participlecautioning
past participlecautioned
pastcautioned

Past tense of caution: cautioned

Plural of caution: cautions

Origin of caution

Recorded since 1297 as Middle English caucioun (“bail, guarantee, pledge”), from Old French caution (“security, surety”), itself from Latin cautiō, from cautus, past participle of caveō, cavēre (“be on one's guard”).

Words formed from caution

Phrases with caution

Words that rhyme with caution

Questions about caution

What does caution mean?
Caution means prudence when faced with, or when expecting to face, danger; care taken in order to avoid risk or harm.
What is caution in Hindi?
Caution in Hindi is चेतावनी (cetāvnī), सावधानी (sāvdhānī), सतर्कता (satarkatā). See Caution meaning in Hindi.
How do you use caution in a sentence?
exercise great caution
What part of speech is caution?
Caution can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce caution?
Caution is pronounced /ˈkɔːʃ(ə)n/ (UK).
What is the plural of caution?
The plural of caution is cautions.

Words near caution in the dictionary

  1. cautery
  2. Cauthen
  3. Cauthens
  4. CAUTI
  5. cauting
  6. caution
  7. caution - slippery when wet
  8. caution fatigue
  9. caution money
  10. caution to snakes
  11. cautionable

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: caution (page history and authors); caution (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ساودھان (Urdu) (page history and authors); పైలం (Telugu) (page history and authors); ജാഗ്രത (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಎಚ್ಚರಿಸು (Kannada) (page history and authors); caution (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); caution (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); caution (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-caution.ogg.

Cite this entry: “caution.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/caution. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.