'Cautious' definitions:
Definition of 'cautious'
From: WordNet
adjective
Showing careful forethought; "reserved and cautious; never making swift decisions"; "a cautious driver" [ant: incautious]
adjective
Avoiding excess; "a conservative estimate" [syn: cautious, conservative]
noun
Definition of 'Cautious'
From: GCIDE
- Cautious \Cau"tious\, a. [Cf. L. cautus, fr. caver. See Caution.] Attentive to examine probable effects and consequences of acts with a view to avoid danger or misfortune; prudent; circumspect; wary; watchful; as, a cautious general. [1913 Webster]
- Cautious feeling for another's pain. --Byron. [1913 Webster]
- Be swift to hear; but cautious of your tongue. --Watts.
- Syn: Wary; watchful; vigilant; prudent; circumspect; discreet; heedful; thoughtful; scrupulous; anxious; careful.
- Usage: Cautious, Wary, Circumspect. A man is cautious who realizes the constant possibility of danger; one may be wary, and yet bold and active; a man who is circumspect habitually examines things on every side in order to weigh and deliberate. It is necessary to be cautious at all times; to be wary in cases of extraordinary danger; to be circumspect in matters of peculiar delicacy and difficulty. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'cautious'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- alert,
- ambling,
- attentive,
- cagey,
- calculating,
- canny,
- careful,
- chary,
- circumspect,
- claudicant,
- considerate,
- cozy,
- crawling,
- creeping,
- creeping like snail,
- curious,
- deliberate,
- demurring,
- diffident,
- discreet,
- disinclined to believe,
- disposed to doubt,
- easy,
- expedient,
- faltering,
- flagging,
- foot-dragging,
- foresighted,
- forethoughtful,
- gentle,
- gingerly,
- gradual,
- guarded,
- halting,
- hard of belief,
- heedful,
- hesitant,
- hesitating,
- hobbled,
- hobbling,
- idle,
- impervious to persuasion,
- inconvincible,
- incredulous,
- indolent,
- jibbing,
- judicious,
- languid,
- languorous,
- lazy,
- leaving out nothing,
- leery,
- leisurely,
- limping,
- loving,
- lumbering,
- mindful,
- moderate,
- noncommittal,
- on guard,
- overlooking no possibility,
- pawky,
- poking,
- poky,
- politic,
- precautious,
- provident,
- prudent,
- regardful,
- relaxed,
- reluctant,
- safe,
- sauntering,
- scheming,
- scrupling,
- shilly-shallying,
- shrewd,
- shuffling,
- shy of belief,
- skeptical,
- slack,
- slothful,
- slow,
- slow as death,
- slow as molasses,
- slow as slow,
- slow to act,
- slow-crawling,
- slow-foot,
- slow-going,
- slow-legged,
- slow-moving,
- slow-paced,
- slow-poky,
- slow-running,
- slow-sailing,
- slow-stepped,
- sluggish,
- snail-paced,
- snaillike,
- solicitous,
- staggering,
- sticking,
- stickling,
- straining,
- strolling,
- suspecting,
- suspicious,
- tender,
- tentative,
- thorough,
- thoughtful,
- timid,
- toddling,
- tortoiselike,
- tottering,
- trudging,
- turtlelike,
- unadventurous,
- uncommunicative,
- unconvincible,
- uncredulous,
- undaring,
- unenterprising,
- unhurried,
- unpersuadable,
- unpersuasible,
- unprecipitate,
- unwilling to accept,
- vigilant,
- waddling,
- wary,
- watchful