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precautious

American  
[pri-kaw-shuhs] / prɪˈkɔ ʃəs /

adjective

  1. using or displaying precaution.

    a precautious reply; a precautious person.

Usage

What does precautious mean? Precautious is an adjective that means being careful by actively preparing to avoid something negative. It can refer to a person or an action.Precautious is very similar to cautious. They both mean being prudent to avoid something bad, but precautious has the added sense of doing something beforehand to try to prevent the bad thing from happening.Example: I decided to be precautious and have my mechanic check out my car before the big road trip.

Etymology

Origin of precautious

First recorded in 1705–15; precauti(on) + -ous

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.