Meaning & use
caution
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Meanings
noununcountable
Careful thought and restraint used to avoid danger, mistakes or unnecessary risk.
Grammar: Uncountable in this sense: proceed with caution, not a caution.
Patterns
- with caution
- exercise caution
- caution about something
Drivers should use extra caution on icy roads.
She treated the offer with caution because it sounded too good to be true.
Investors were urged to act with caution.
nouncountable
A spoken or written warning that tells people to take care or that a particular action may have consequences.
Grammar: Countable: the sign carried a caution about wet floors. In British English, an official caution can also be given by police.
Patterns
- a caution about something
- a word of caution
The label includes a caution about using the product near heat.
Let me add a word of caution before you sign.
The officer gave the teenager a formal caution instead of charging him.
verbtransitive
To warn someone about a possible danger or problem, or to advise them against doing something.
Grammar: Takes an object, often followed by against or a that-clause: he cautioned me against rushing.
Patterns
- caution someone against something
- caution someone that something
- caution someone to do something
The doctor cautioned him against lifting heavy boxes.
Teachers cautioned students to double-check their sources.
Experts caution that the figures may change.
Word forms
| third person singular | cautions |
|---|---|
| past tense | cautioned |
| past participle | cautioned |
| -ing form | cautioning |
| plural | cautions |
Common combinations
- exercise caution
- Please exercise caution when walking near the cliff edge.
- proceed with caution
- Proceed with caution; the bridge is not fully repaired.
- throw caution to the wind
- For once she threw caution to the wind and booked the trip.
- a note of caution
- The report ends on a note of caution about future costs.
- err on the side of caution
- If the forecast is uncertain, we err on the side of caution and cancel.
- caution against
- Health officials caution against drinking untreated water.
Synonyms and how they differ
- care
- Care is a broader word for attention and gentleness, while caution specifically points to avoiding a known risk.
- prudence
- Prudence is more formal and suggests good long-term judgment, whereas caution is often a reaction to an immediate danger.
- warn
- Warn can be stronger and more direct than the verb caution, which sounds calmer and more advisory.
- wariness
- Wariness describes a suspicious, watchful feeling, whereas caution is the careful behavior that results.
Opposites
Word family
- cautious adjective
- Taking care to avoid risk
- cautiously adverb
- In a careful way that avoids danger
- cautionary adjective
- Giving a warning, as in a cautionary tale
- incautious adjective
- Careless and not thinking about risk
- precaution noun
- A step taken in advance to prevent harm
Commonly confused: caution or caution/cautious?
caution vs caution/cautious
Caution is the noun and the verb; cautious is the adjective. Say 'a cautious driver', not 'a caution driver'.
Practice
Before the hike, the guide ____ the group against stepping off the marked path.
Choose one answer.
The sentence needs a past tense verb followed by 'against', and cautioned is the only option that works. Cautiously is an adverb and cautious is an adjective.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “caution”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.