cautious
adjective
Simple meaning
Careful to avoid danger or mistakes.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kawshuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɔʃəs
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
Using or exercising caution; careful; tentative
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Word Aura is being prepared for this meaning.
More ways to use cautious
- “He took a few cautious steps toward the cave.”adjective
- “Reserved and cautious.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A statement made with careful qualifications.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The trait of being cautious.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Antonyms
Sense: using or exercising caution
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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.