precaution

See also: précaution

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹiːˈkɔːʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pre‧cau‧tion

Noun

precaution (countable and uncountable, plural precautions)

1. Previous caution or care; caution previously employed to prevent misfortune or to secure good

   his life was saved by precaution

   • John Henry Newman

     The ancient philosophers treasured up their supposed discoveries with miserable precaution.

2. A measure taken beforehand to ward off evil or secure good or success; a precautionary act.

   to take precautions against risks of accident

Derived terms

• precautionary

Translations

Previous caution or care

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 防範／防范 (zh) (fángfàn), 防范 (zh) (fángfàn), 預防／预防 (zh) (yùfáng), 预防 (zh) (yùfáng), 用心 (zh) (yòngxīn)

• French: précaution (fr) f
• German: Vorsorge (de) f
• Indonesian: langkah pencegahan
• Japanese: 予防 (ja) (よぼう, yobō), 用心 (ja) (ようじん, yōjin)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: provisio, provisio f, provisio f
• Norwegian: sikkerhetsforanstaltning
• Russian: предосторо́жность (ru) f (predostoróžnostʹ), предусмотри́тельность (ru) f (predusmotrítelʹnostʹ)
• Swedish: försiktighetsåtgärd c, säkerhetsåtgärd (sv) c
• Turkish: önlem (tr)

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

• Dutch: voorzorg (nl), voorzorgsmaatregel (nl)
• Finnish: varotoimi, varokeino, varotoimenpide
• German: Vorsichtsmaßnahme (de) f
• Latin: provisio f
• Maori: whakatūpato
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forholdsregel (no) m, sikkerhetsforanstaltning m or f

  Nynorsk: forholdsregel m

• Russian: предосторожность (ru) f (predostorožnostʹ)

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

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} precauzione (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} precaución (es) f

See also

• prevention

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To warn or caution beforehand.
2. (transitive, rare) To take precaution against.

Translations

To warn or caution beforehand

• Maori: whakatūpato
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

To take precaution against

• Finnish: ryhtyä varotoimenpiteisiin
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• preauction, unoperatic