precaution

See also: précaution

English

Etymology

From French précaution, Latin praecautio, from praecavere, praecautum (“to guard against beforehand”); prae (“before”) + cavere (“be on one's guard”). See pre-, and caution.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹiːˈkɔːʃən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɹiːˈkɔː.ʃən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɹiːˈkɔ.ʃən/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /pɹiːˈkɑ.ʃən/, [pɹiːˈkɑ.ʃn̩], /pɹɪˈkɑ.ʃən/, [pɹɪˈkɑ.ʃn̩]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: pre‧cau‧tion

Noun

precaution (countable and uncountable, plural precautions)

1. Previous caution or care; caution previously employed to prevent misfortune or to secure good

   his life was saved by precaution

   • July 2, 1826, John Henry Newman, The Philosophical Temper, First Enjoined by the Gospel

     The ancient philosophers treasured up their supposed discoveries with miserable precaution.

2. A measure taken beforehand to ward off evil or secure good or success; a precautionary act.

   to take precautions against risks of accident

Synonyms

• forecaution

Derived terms

• precautionary

Translations

Previous caution or care

• Azerbaijani: ehtiyat (az)
• Bulgarian: предпазливост (bg) f (predpazlivost), внимание (bg) n (vnimanie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 防範／防范 (zh) (fángfàn), 預防／预防 (zh) (yùfáng), 用心 (zh) (yòngxīn)

• French: précaution (fr) f
• German: Vorsorge (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐍃 m (muns)
• Indonesian: langkah pencegahan
• Japanese: 予防 (ja) (よぼう, yobō), 用心 (ja) (ようじん, yōjin)
• Latin: provisio, provisio f, provisio f
• Norwegian: sikkerhetsforanstaltning
• Persian: احتیاط (fa) (ehtiyât)
• Plautdietsch: Väasecht f
• Russian: предосторо́жность (ru) f (predostoróžnostʹ), предусмотри́тельность (ru) f (predusmotrítelʹnostʹ)
• Swedish: försiktighetsåtgärd (sv) c, säkerhetsåtgärd (sv) c
• Turkish: önlem (tr)

A measure taken beforehand to ward off evil or secure good or success

• Azerbaijani: ehtiyat (az), ehtiyat tədbiri
• Bulgarian: предпазна мярка f (predpazna mjarka)
• Dutch: voorzorg (nl), voorzorgsmaatregel (nl)
• Esperanto: antaŭrimedo
• Finnish: varotoimi, varokeino, varotoimenpide
• German: Vorsichtsmaßnahme (de) f
• Latin: provisio f
• Maori: whakatūpato
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forholdsregel (no) m, sikkerhetsforanstaltning m or f

  Nynorsk: forholdsregel m

• Persian: اقدام احتیاطی (eqdâm-e ehtiyâti)
• Plautdietsch: Väasecht f
• Russian: предосторо́жность (ru) f (predostoróžnostʹ)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} precauzione (it) f
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} precaución (es) f

See also

• prevention

Verb

precaution (third-person singular simple present precautions, present participle precautioning, simple past and past participle precautioned)

1. (transitive) To warn or caution beforehand.
2. (transitive, rare) To take precaution against.

Translations

To warn or caution beforehand

• Bulgarian: предпазвам (bg) (predpazvam)
• Maori: whakatūpato

To take precaution against

• Bulgarian: взимам мерки (vzimam merki)
• Finnish: ryhtyä varotoimenpiteisiin

Anagrams

• preauction, unoperatic