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.
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) Bulgarian: грижлив (bg), внимателен (bg) Chinese: Mandarin: 當心 (cmn), 当心 (cmn) (dāngxīn), 小心 (cmn) (xiǎoxīn) Crimean Tatar: saqt ol, muqayt ol Croatian: ȍprēzan (hr) Czech: opatrný (cs) m. Dutch: voorzichtig (nl), oplettend (nl), aandachtig (nl) Estonian: ettevaatlik (et), tähelepanelik (et) Finnish: varovainen (fi) French: prudent (fr) m., prudente (fr) f. German: vorsichtig (de), behutsam (de) Greek: προσεκτικός (el) (prosektikós) m.

Hebrew: זהיר (zahyr) m., זהירה (zehira) f. Italian: prudente (it), cauto (it) Latin: curiosus (la), cautus (la) Lojban: kajde (jbo) 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. Russian: аккуратный, осторожный, внимательный (attentive) Scottish Gaelic: cùramach (gd) Spanish: cauto (es), cuidadoso (es) Swedish: försiktig (sv)

meticulous

Bulgarian: старателен (bg), акуратен (bg) 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) Latin: meticulosus (la) Portuguese: cuidadoso (pt) m.,cuidadosa (pt) f.; meticuloso (pt) m., meticulosa (pt) f. Russian: тщательный (ru) 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