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, Inland Northern American) IPA^(key): /pɹiːˈkɑ.ʃən/, [pɹiːˈkɑ.ʃn̩], /pɹɪˈkɑ.ʃən/, [pɹɪˈkɑ.ʃn̩]
- Audio (US) (file)
Hyphenation: pre‧cau‧tion

Noun

precaution (countable and uncountable, plural precautions)

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.
A measure taken beforehand to ward off evil or secure good or success; a precautionary act.
to take precautions against risks of accident

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 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)
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: предосторожность (ru) f (predostorožnostʹ)

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

Verb

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

(transitive) To warn or caution beforehand.
(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