careful

English

Alternative forms

• carefull (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English careful, from Old English carful; equivalent to care +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛːfəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛ(ə)ɹfəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛː(ɹ)fəl, -ɛəɹfəl

Adjective

careful (comparative more careful or carefuller, superlative most careful or carefullest)

1. Taking care; attentive to potential danger, error or harm; cautious.

   He was a slow and careful driver.

   Be very careful while trekking through the jungle.

2. Conscientious and painstaking; meticulous.

   They made a careful search of the crime scene.

   • 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 7:

     At the same time, we were cognisant that careful scholars should never solely rely on their own impressionistic observations, and, that our own impressions were inexact and not capable of being quantified.

3. (obsolete) Full of care or grief; sorrowful, sad.
4. (obsolete) Full of cares or anxiety; worried, troubled.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Where through long watch, and late daies weary toile, / She soundly slept, and carefull thoughts did quite assoile.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:cautious
• See also Thesaurus:meticulous

Antonyms

• careless

Derived terms

• be careful
• be careful what you wish for
• carefully
• carefulness

 

Translations

cautious

• Arabic: حَذِر (ar) (ḥaḏir)
• Belarusian: асцяро́жны (ascjaróžny), пі́льны (pílʹny), ува́жлівы (uvážlivy), акура́тны (akurátny)
• Bengali: সতর্ক (bn) (śotork), সাবধান (bn) (śabodhan)
• Bulgarian: грижли́в (bg) (grižlív), внима́телен (bg) (vnimátelen)
• Catalan: cautelós, anar amb compte (to be careful)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 當心／当心 (zh) (dāngxīn), 小心 (zh) (xiǎoxīn)

• Crimean Tatar: saqt ol, muqayt ol
• Czech: opatrný (cs)
• Danish: forsigtig
• Dutch: voorzichtig (nl), behoedzaam (nl), omzichtig (nl), prudent (nl)
• Esperanto: zorga, zorgema
• Estonian: ettevaatlik, tähelepanelik
• Faroese: varin, ansin, varur, hyggin, gáin
• Finnish: varovainen (fi)
• French: prudent (fr)
• Galician: cauto
• Georgian: ყურადღებიანი (q̇uradɣebiani)
• German: vorsichtig (de), behutsam (de)
• Greek: προσεκτικός (el) (prosektikós)

  Ancient: ἐπιμελής (epimelḗs)

• Gujarati: સાવધાન (sāvdhān)
• Hebrew: זָהִיר (zahír)
• Hindi: सावधान (hi) (sāvdhān), सतर्क (hi) (satark)
• Hungarian: óvatos (hu)
• Icelandic: var (is), varkár (is)
• Indonesian: hati-hati (id)
• Irish: aireach
• Italian: prudente (it), cauto (it), fare attenzione
• Japanese: 思慮深い (しりょぶかい, shiryobukai)
• Kazakh: сақ (saq)
• Korean: 조심하다 (ko) (josimhada), 신중하다 (ko) (sinjunghada)
• Latin: curiosus, cautus (la)
• Latvian: rūpīgs, uzmanīgs
• Macedonian: внимателен (vnimatelen)
• Malay: hati-hati (ms)
• Marathi: सावध (sāvadh)
• Neapolitan: accuorto
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forsiktig

• Occitan: téner ment
• Old English: carful
• Persian: محتاط (fa) (mohtât)
• Polish: ostrożny (pl)
• Portuguese: cauteloso (pt), cuidadoso (pt), prudente (pt), tomar cuidado (pt) (to be careful)
• Romanian: precaut (ro), prudent (ro), atent (ro), îngrijit (ro), grijuliu (ro)
• Russian: осторо́жный (ru) (ostoróžnyj), внима́тельный (ru) (vnimátelʹnyj) (attentive), аккура́тный (ru) (akkurátnyj)
• Sanskrit: सावधान (sa) (sāvadhāna), सतर्क (sa) (satarka)
• Scottish Gaelic: cùramach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̏пре̄зан

  Roman: ȍprēzan (sh)

• Slovak: opatrný
• Slovene: skrben (sl)
• Spanish: cauto (es), cuidadoso (es), tener cuidado (to be careful)
• Swedish: försiktig (sv)
• Tagalog: maingat
• Tocharian B: imassu
• Turkish: dikkatli (tr)
• Ukrainian: обере́жний (oberéžnyj), акура́тний (uk) (akurátnyj), ува́жний (uk) (uvážnyj)
• Urdu: ساودھان (sāvdhān), سترک (satark)
• Welsh: gofalus (cy)

meticulous

• Arabic: دَقِيق (ar) (daqīq)
• Bulgarian: стара́телен (bg) (starátelen), акура́тен (bg) (akuráten)
• Catalan: curós (ca), acurat
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 過細／过细 (zh) (guòxì), 細緻／细致 (zh) (xìzhì), 仔細／仔细 (zh) (zǐxì)

• Czech: pečlivý (cs)
• Dutch: zorgvuldig (nl), grondig (nl), doortastend (nl)
• Finnish: huolellinen (fi)
• French: soigneux (fr), attentif (fr)
• German: sorgfältig (de)
• Greek: επιμελής (el) (epimelís)
• Indonesian: teliti (id), cermat (id)
• Ingrian: hoolekas
• Irish: curamach
• Italian: accurato (it), attento (it)
• Japanese: 注意深い (ja) (ちゅういぶかい, chūibukai)
• Korean: 주의깊다 (juuigipda)
• Latin: meticulosus, diligens
• Latvian: rūpīgs, uzmanīgs
• Norman: souongneux
• Persian: دقیق (fa) (daqiq)
• Polish: drobiazgowy (pl)
• Portuguese: cuidadoso (pt), meticuloso (pt)
• Russian: тща́тельный (ru) (tščátelʹnyj), аккура́тный (ru) (akkurátnyj), стара́тельный (ru) (starátelʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: cùramach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: брѝжљив, бри̏жан, по̀мњив

  Roman: brìžljiv (sh), brȉžan (sh), pòmnjiv (sh)

• Slovak: starostlivý
• Spanish: cuidadoso (es), concienzudo (es), minucioso (es)
• Swedish: noggrann (sv)

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

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} zorgema

Further reading

• “careful”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• careful in Britannica Dictionary
• careful in Macmillan Collocations Dictionary
• careful in Ozdic collocation dictionary
• careful in WordReference English Collocations

Anagrams

• acreful