Cautious \Cau"tious\, 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. --Byron.
[1913 Webster]
Be swift to hear; but cautious of your tongue. --Watts.
Syn: Wary; watchful; vigilant; prudent; circumspect;
discreet; heedful; thoughtful; scrupulous; anxious;
careful.
Usage: Cautious, Wary, Circumspect. A man is cautious
who realizes the constant possibility of danger; one
may be wary, and yet bold and active; a man who is
circumspect habitually examines things on every side
in order to weigh and deliberate. It is necessary to
be cautious at all times; to be wary in cases of
extraordinary danger; to be circumspect in matters of
peculiar delicacy and difficulty.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
cautious
adj 1: showing careful forethought; "reserved and cautious; never
making swift decisions"; "a cautious driver" [ant: incautious]
2: avoiding excess; "a conservative estimate" [syn: conservative]
3: cautious in attitude and careful in actions; prudent; "a
cautious answer"; "very cautious about believing
everything she was told"
4: unwilling to take risks
n : people who are fearful and cautious; "whitewater rafting is
not for the timid" [syn: timid] [ant: brave]
WordNet (r) 2.0
133 Moby Thesaurus words for "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
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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