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^(key): /ˈkɛːfəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛɹfəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

careful (comparative more careful, superlative most careful)

1. (obsolete) Full of care or grief; sorrowful, sad.
   • 1485 July 31, Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], (please specify the book number), [London]: […] [by William Caxton], OCLC 71490786; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: Published by David Nutt, […], 1889, OCLC 890162034:
     , Bk.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 crime scene.

Synonyms

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

Antonyms

• careless

Derived terms

• carefully
• carefulness

Translations

cautious

• Arabic: حَذِر‎‎ (ar) (ḥaḏir)
• Belarusian: асцяро́жны (ascjaróžny), пі́льны (pílʹny), ува́жлiвы (uvážlivy), акура́тны (akurátny)
• Bengali: সতর্ক (sôtôrkô), সাবধান (sabdhan)
• Bulgarian: грижли́в (bg) (grižlív), внима́телен (bg) (vnimátelen)
• Catalan: cautelós
• Chinese:

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

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

  Ancient Greek: ἐπιμελής (epimelḗs)

• Gujarati: સાવધાન (sāvdhān)
• Hebrew: זהיר‎‎ m (zahyr), זהירה‎‎ (he) f (zehira)
• Hindi: सावधान (hi) (sāvdhān), सतर्क (hi) (satark)
• Hungarian: óvatos (hu)
• Irish: aireach
• Italian: prudente (it), cauto (it)

• Japanese: 思慮深い (しりょぶかい, shoribukai)
• Korean: 조심하다 (ko) (josimhada), 신중하다 (ko) (sinjunghada)
• Latin: curiosus, cautus
• Latvian: rūpīgs, uzmanīgs
• Macedonian: внимателен (vnimatelen)
• Marathi: सावध (sāvadh)
• Neapolitan: accuorto
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forsiktig

• Old English: ċeariġ
• Polish: ostrożny (pl)
• Portuguese: cauteloso (pt) m, cautelosa (pt) f; cuidadoso (pt) m, cuidadosa f, prudente (pt) m
• Romanian: precaut (ro) m, prudent (ro) m, 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)
• Swedish: försiktig (sv)
• Tagalog: maingat
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: обере́жний (oberéžnyj), акура́тний (uk) (akurátnyj)
• Urdu: ساودھان‎‎ (sāvdhān), سترک‎‎ (satark)

meticulous

• Arabic: دَقِيق‎‎ (ar) (daqīq)
• Bulgarian: старателен (bg) (staratelen), акуратен (bg) (akuraten)
• Catalan: curós (ca)
• Chinese:

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

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

• Japanese: 注意深い (ja) (ちゅういぶかい, chūibukai)
• Korean: 주의깊은 (juuigipeun)
• Latin: meticulosus
• Latvian: rūpīgs, uzmanīgs
• Norman: souongneux
• Polish: drobiazgowy (pl)
• Portuguese: cuidadoso (pt) m,cuidadosa f; meticuloso (pt) m, meticulosa f
• 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)

• 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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} zorgema