circumspect

WOTD - 11 October 2009    

English

Etymology

From Latin circumspectō (“look around”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈsəː.kəm.spɛkt/
• (US) IPA: /ˈsɚ.kəm.spɛkt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

circumspect (comparative more circumspect, superlative most circumspect)

1. Carefully aware of all circumstances; considerate of all that is pertinent.

   Being aware of the danger of upsetting her audience, she was somewhat circumspect in her comments.

Synonyms

• (carefully aware of all circumstances): cautious, prudent, thoughtful, wary

Derived terms

• circumspectly

Related terms

• circumspection

Translations

carefully aware of all circumstances

Bulgarian: внимателен (bg), предпазлив (bg) Catalan: circumspecte (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 细心的 (zh), 慎重的 (zh) Croatian: razborit (hr) m., promišljat (hr), oprezan (hr), svjestan (hr) Czech: obezřetný (cs) m. Danish: varsom (da), forsigtig (da) Estonian: ettevaatlik (et) Finnish: ympäripyöreä (fi)

German: vorsichtig (de), umsichtig (de) Hungarian: körültekintő (hu) Italian: cauto (it) m., prudente (it) m. and f. Macedonian: претпазлив (mk) (prétpazliv) m. Norwegian: omstendelig (no) Polish: ostrożny (pl) Russian: осмотрительный (ru), бдительный (ru)