careful

English

Alternative forms

carefull (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English careful, from Old English carful; equivalent to care +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛɹfəl/, [ˈkɛɹfəɫ], [ˈkɛɹfɫ̩]
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛːfl̩/, [ˈkɛːfɫ̩]
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɛːfəl, -ɛəɹfəl

Adjective

careful (comparative more careful, superlative most careful)

Taking care; attentive to potential danger, error or harm; cautious.
He was a slow and careful driver.

Be very careful while trekking through the jungle.
- 2025 February 3, Anemona Hartocollis, “The University of California Increased Diversity. Now It’s Being Sued.”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 4 February 2025:
  John Aubrey Douglass, a senior research fellow at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at Berkeley, said that while he was not an insider on admissions practices, “my sense is that admissions is highly regulated and careful to stay clear of Prop 209 restrictions, and the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action.”
Conscientious and painstaking; meticulous.
They made a careful search of the crime scene.
- 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 7:
  At the same time, we were cognisant that careful scholars should never solely rely on their own impressionistic observations, and, that our own impressions were inexact and not capable of being quantified.
(obsolete) Full of care or grief; sorrowful, sad.
(obsolete) Full of cares or anxiety; worried, troubled.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
  Where through long watch, and late daies weary toile, / She soundly slept, and carefull thoughts did quite assoile.

Synonyms

Antonyms

careless

Derived terms

Translations

cautious — see also cautious

Albanian: kujdesshëm (sq)
Arabic: حَذِر (ar) (ḥaḏir)
Belarusian: асцяро́жны (ascjaróžny), пі́льны (pílʹny), ува́жлівы (uvážlivy), акура́тны (akurátny)
Bengali: সতর্ক (bn) (śotork), সাবধান (bn) (śabodhan)
Bulgarian: грижли́в (bg) (grižlív), внима́телен (bg) (vnimátelen)
Catalan: cautelós, anar amb compte (to be careful)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 當心 / 当心 (zh) (dāngxīn), 小心 (zh) (xiǎoxīn)
Crimean Tatar: saqt ol, muqayt ol
Czech: opatrný (cs)
Danish: forsigtig
Dutch: voorzichtig (nl), behoedzaam (nl), omzichtig (nl), prudent (nl)
Esperanto: zorga, zorgema, singarda
Estonian: ettevaatlik, tähelepanelik
Faroese: varin, ansin, varur, hyggin, gáin
Finnish: varovainen (fi)
French: prudent (fr)
Galician: cauto
Georgian: ყურადღებიანი (q̇uradɣebiani)
German: vorsichtig (de), behutsam (de)
Greek: προσεκτικός (el) (prosektikós)
Ancient Greek: ἐπιμελής (epimelḗs)
Gujarati: સાવધાન (sāvdhān)
Hebrew: זָהִיר (zahír)
Hindi: सावधान (hi) (sāvdhān), सतर्क (hi) (satark)
Hungarian: óvatos (hu)
Icelandic: var (is), varkár (is)
Indonesian: hati-hati (id)
Irish: aireach
Italian: prudente (it), cauto (it), fare attenzione
Japanese: 思慮深い (ja) (しりょぶかい, shiryobukai)
Kazakh: сақ (saq)
Korean: 조심하다 (ko) (josimhada), 신중하다 (ko) (sinjunghada)
Latin: curiosus, cautus (la)
Latvian: rūpīgs, uzmanīgs
Macedonian: внимателен (vnimatelen)
Malay: hati-hati (ms)
Marathi: सावध (sāvadh)
Neapolitan: accuorto
Norwegian:
Bokmål: forsiktig
Occitan: téner ment
Old English: carful
Persian: محتاط (fa) (mohtât)
Polish: ostrożny (pl)
Portuguese: cauteloso (pt), cuidadoso (pt), prudente (pt), tomar cuidado (pt) (to be careful)
Romanian: precaut (ro), prudent (ro), 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

Latin: ȍprēzan (sh)
Slovak: opatrný
Slovene: skrben (sl)
Spanish: cauto (es), cuidadoso (es), tener cuidado (to be careful), precavido (es)
Swedish: försiktig (sv)
Tagalog: maingat
Tocharian B: imassu
Turkish: dikkatli (tr)
Ukrainian: обере́жний (oberéžnyj), акура́тний (uk) (akurátnyj), ува́жний (uk) (uvážnyj)
Urdu: ساودھان (sāvdhān), سترک (satark)
Welsh: gofalus (cy)

meticulous

Arabic: دَقِيق (ar) (daqīq)
Bulgarian: стара́телен (bg) (starátelen), акура́тен (bg) (akuráten)
Catalan: curós (ca), acurat
Chinese:
Mandarin: 過細 / 过细 (zh) (guòxì), 細緻 / 细致 (zh) (xìzhì), 仔細 / 仔细 (zh) (zǐxì)
Czech: pečlivý (cs)
Dutch: zorgvuldig (nl), grondig (nl), doortastend (nl)
Finnish: huolellinen (fi)
French: soigneux (fr), attentif (fr)
German: sorgfältig (de)
Greek: επιμελής (el) (epimelís)
Hindi: सावधान (hi) (sāvdhān), सतर्क (hi) (satark), सचेत (hi) (sacet)
Indonesian: teliti (id), cermat (id)
Ingrian: hoolekas
Irish: curamach
Italian: accurato (it), attento (it)
Japanese: 注意深い (ja) (ちゅういぶかい, chūibukai)
Korean: 주의 깊다 (juuigipda)
Latin: meticulosus, diligens
Latvian: rūpīgs, uzmanīgs
Norman: souongneux
Persian: دقیق (fa) (daqiq)
Polish: drobiazgowy (pl)
Portuguese: cuidadoso (pt), meticuloso (pt)
Russian: тща́тельный (ru) (tščátelʹnyj), аккура́тный (ru) (akkurátnyj), стара́тельный (ru) (starátelʹnyj)
Scottish Gaelic: cùramach
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: брѝжљив, бри̏жан, по̀мњив

Latin: brìžljiv (sh), brȉžan (sh), pòmnjiv (sh)
Slovak: starostlivý
Spanish: cuidadoso (es), concienzudo (es), minucioso (es)
Swedish: noggrann (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} zorgema

Anagrams

acreful