careful
adjective
Simple meaning
Exercising caution or showing care or attention.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kehrfuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɛɹfəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Exercising caution or showing care or attention
“They were careful when crossing the busy street.”
Taking care; attentive to potential danger, error or harm; cautious.
Conscientious and painstaking; meticulous.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
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More ways to use careful
- “They were careful when crossing the busy street.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The particular occupation for which you are trained.
Marked by lack of attention or consideration or forethought or thoroughness.
Taking care or paying attention.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The quality of not being careful or taking pains.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.