Precaution

4 definitions found

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

  Precaution \Pre*cau"tion\, n. [F. pr['e]cation, L. praecautio,
     fr. praecavere, praecautum, to guard against beforehand; prae
     before + cavere be on one's guard. See {Pre-}, and
     {Caution}.]
     1. Previous caution or care; caution previously employed to
        prevent mischief or secure good; as, his life was saved by


        precaution.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              They [ancient philosophers] treasured up their
              supposed discoveries with miserable precaution. --J.
                                                    H. Newman.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A measure taken beforehand to ward off evil or secure good
        or success; a precautionary act; as, to take precautions
        against accident.
        [1913 Webster]

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

  Precaution \Pre*cau"tion\, v. t. [Cf. F. pr['e]cautionner.]
     1. To warn or caution beforehand. --Locke.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To take precaution against. [R.] --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  precaution
       n 1: a precautionary measure warding off impending danger or
            damage or injury etc.; "he put an ice pack on the injury
            as a precaution"; "an insurance policy is a good
            safeguard"; "we let our guard down" [syn: {safeguard}, {guard}]
       2: the trait of practicing caution in advance
       3: judiciousness in avoiding harm or danger; "he exercised
          caution in opening the door"; "he handled the vase with
          care" [syn: {caution}, {care}, {forethought}]

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

  43 Moby Thesaurus words for "precaution":
     alertness, anticipation, apprehension, attention, canniness, care,
     caution, cautiousness, chariness, circumspection, cover,
     discreetness, discretion, escape, forearming, forebode,
     forehandedness, foresight, foresightedness, forethought,
     forethoughtfulness, forewarn, give advance notice, insurance,
     measures, portend, precautions, precautiousness, premonish,
     prenotify, preventive measure, prewarn, protection, providence,
     provision, prudence, safeguard, steps, steps and measures,
     tell in advance, vigilance, wariness, watchfulness