precaution

See also précaution

English

Etymology

From French précaution, Latin praecautio, from praecavere, praecautum (“to guard against beforehand”); prae (“before”) + cavere (“be on one's guard”). See pre-, and caution.

Pronunciation

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Noun

precaution (plural precautions)

1. Previous caution or care; caution previously employed to prevent mischief or secure good; as, his life was saved by precaution.

   The ancient philosophers treasured up their supposed discoveries with miserable precaution. -- John Henry Newman.

2. A measure taken beforehand to ward off evil or secure good or success; a precautionary act; as, to take precautions against risks of accident.

Derived terms

• precautionary

See also

• prevention

Translations

Previous caution or care

• French: précaution (fr) f
• Indonesian: langkah pencegahan
• Latin: provisio (la), provisio (la) f, provisio (la) f

• Turkish: önlem (tr)

A measure taken beforehand to ward off evil or secure good or success

• Dutch: voorzorg (nl), voorzorgsmaatregel
• Finnish: varotoimi (fi), varokeino (fi), varotoimenpide (fi)
• German: Vorsichtsmaßnahme (de) f

• Latin: provisio (la) f

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

• Italian: precauzione f

• Spanish: precaución f

Verb

precaution (third-person singular simple present precautions, present participle precautioning, simple past and past participle precautioned)

1. (transitive): To warn or caution beforehand. --Locke.
2. (transitive, rare): To take precaution against. --John Dryden.

Translations

To warn or caution beforehand

To take precaution against

• Finnish: ryhtyä varotoimenpiteisiin