Cautious

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  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}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  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