careful

English

Alternative forms

• carefull (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English careful, from Old English carful, ċearful (“careful, anxious, curious, troubled”), equivalent to care +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈkɛːfəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

careful (comparative more careful, superlative most careful)

1. (obsolete) Full of care or grief; sorrowful, sad.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book V:

     ‘Alas,’ sayde Sir Cadore, ‘now carefull is myne herte that now lyeth dede my cosyn that I beste loved.’

2. (obsolete) Full of cares or anxiety; worried, troubled.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:

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

3. Having care (for); attentive to potential danger, error or harm; cautious.

   He was a slow and careful driver.

4. Conscientious and painstaking; meticulous.

   They made a careful search of the crimescene.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:cautious
• See also Wikisaurus:meticulous

Antonyms

• careless

Derived terms

• carefully

Translations

cautious

• Bengali: সতর্ক (bn) (sôtôrkô), সাবধান (bn) (sābdhān)
• Bulgarian: грижлив (bg) (grižliv), внимателен (bg) (vnimatelen)
• Catalan: cautelós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 當心 (cmn), 当心 (cmn) (dāngxīn), 小心 (cmn) (xiǎoxīn)

• Crimean Tatar: saqt ol, muqayt ol
• Czech: opatrný (cs) m
• Dutch: voorzichtig (nl), behoedzaam (nl), omzichtig (nl), prudent (nl)
• Estonian: ettevaatlik (et), tähelepanelik (et)
• Finnish: varovainen (fi)
• French: prudent (fr) m, prudente (fr) f
• Georgian: ყურადღებიანი (ka) (quradḡebiani)
• German: vorsichtig (de), behutsam (de)
• Greek: προσεκτικός (el) (prosektikós) m
• Gujarati: સાવધાન (gu) (sāvdhān)
• Hebrew: זהיר (zahyr) m, זהירה (zehira) f
• Hindi: सावधान (hi) (sāvdhān), सतर्क (hi) (satark)
• Italian: prudente (it), cauto (it)
• Japanese: 思慮深い (ja) (しりょぶかい, shoribukai)

• Latin: curiosus (la), cautus (la)
• Latvian: rūpīgs (lv), uzmanīgs (lv)
• Lojban: kajde (jbo)
• Marathi: सावध (mr) (sāvadh)
• Neapolitan: accuorto
• Old English: ċeariġ (ang)
• Polish: ostrożny (pl) m, ostrożna (pl) f, ostrożne (pl) n
• Portuguese: cauteloso (pt) m, cautelosa (pt) f; cuidadoso (pt) m, cuidadosa (pt) f, prudente (pt) m
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: осторожный (ru) (ostoróžnyj), внимательный (ru) (vnimátelʹnyj) (attentive), аккуратный (ru) (akkurátnyj)
• Sanskrit: सावधान (sa) (sāvdhāna), सतर्क (sa) (satarka)
• Scottish Gaelic: cùramach (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian: ȍprēzan (sh), о̏пре̄зан (sh)
• Spanish: cauto (es), cuidadoso (es)
• Swedish: försiktig (sv)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Urdu: ساودھان (ur) (sāvdhān), سترک (ur) (satark)

meticulous

• Bulgarian: старателен (bg) (staratelen), акуратен (bg) (akuraten)
• Catalan: curós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 過細 (cmn), 过细 (cmn) (guòxì), 細緻 (cmn), 细致 (cmn) (xìzhì)

• Czech: pečlivý (cs) m
• Dutch: zorgvuldig (nl), grondig (nl), doortastend (nl)
• Finnish: huolellinen (fi)
• French: soigneux (fr) m, soigneuse (fr) f
• German: sorgfältig (de)
• Greek: επιμελής (el) (epimelís) m
• Irish: curamach (ga)
• Italian: accurato (it)

• Japanese: 注意深い (ja) (ちゅういぶかい, chūibukai)
• Jèrriais: souongneux
• Latin: meticulosus (la)
• Latvian: rūpīgs (lv), uzmanīgs (lv)
• Portuguese: cuidadoso (pt) m,cuidadosa (pt) f; meticuloso (pt) m, meticulosa (pt) f
• Russian: тщательный (ru) (tščátelʹnyj), аккуратный (ru) (akkurátnyj), старательный (ru) (starátelʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: cùramach (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: брѝжљив (sh), бри̏жан (sh), по̀мњив (sh)

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

• Spanish: cuidadoso (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: zorgema