incaution

incaution

English

Etymology

in- +‎ caution

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈkɔːʃən/

Noun

incaution (usually uncountable, plural incautions)

1. A lack of caution.
   • 1720, Alexander Pope, translating Homer, The Iliad, Book 23, Adamant 2000, p. 473:

     Lest through incaution failing, thou mayst be / A joy to others, a reproach to me.

   • 1865, William Howitt, The History of Discovery in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand

     Little did the members of the expedition, little did the cheering spectators on that exciting day divine the strange neglects, the strange incautions, and the consequent disasters and deaths […]

   • 2008, "The Maverick Insider", The Guardian, 24 Jan 2008:

     It always felt as though Hain's career, which began so powerfully with his youthful campaigning against apartheid, was going to come unstuck, but through political incaution, not financial incompetence.

Related terms

• incautious