prudence

See also: Prudence

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “prudence”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Old French prudence, from Latin prūdentia, alternative form of prōvidentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹuːdəns/
• Hyphenation: pru‧dence

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

prudence (countable and uncountable, plural prudences)

1. The quality or state of being prudent; wisdom in the way of caution and provision; discretion; carefulness; hence, also, economy; frugality.
   • 1876, Samuel Austin Allibone, Prose Quotations from Socrates to Macaulay, J.B. Lippincott, page 597,

     Prudence is principally in reference to actions to be done, and due means, order, seasons, and method of doing or not doing. - Sir Matthew Hale.

     Prudence supposes the value of the end to be assumed, and refers only to the adaptation of the means. It is the relation of right means for given ends. - William Whewell.

Synonyms

• wisdom, forecast, providence, considerateness, judiciousness, discretion, caution, sagacity, circumspection, judgment
• See also Thesaurus:caution

Antonyms

• imprudence, recklessness, rashness

Translations

The quality or state of being prudent

• Catalan: prudència f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 谨慎 (zh) (jǐnshèn)

• Esperanto: prudento
• Finnish: harkitsevuus (fi), varovaisuus (fi)
• German: Klugheit (de) f, Umsicht (de) f, Besonnenheit (de) f
• Maori: ngārahu, ngārehu, matawhāititanga
• Persian: تدبیر (fa) (tadbir), کیاست (fa) (kiyâsat)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: roztropność (pl) f, przezorność (pl) f
• Portuguese: prudência (pt) f
• Romanian: prudență (ro) f
• Russian: благоразумность (ru) f (blagorazumnostʹ), дальновидность (ru) f (dalʹnovidnostʹ), осмотрительность (ru) f (osmotritelʹnostʹ), расчётливость (ru) f (rasčótlivostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: gliocas m
• Spanish: prudencia (es) f

Anagrams

• uncreped

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French

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin prūdentia, contrasting from prōvidentia. See prudent, and confer providence.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁy.dɑ̃s/

• audio:

  (file)

Noun

prudence f (plural prudences)

1. prudence, caution, care

Further reading

• “prudence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.