Meaning & use
precaution
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
Something you do in advance to stop something bad from happening or to keep safe.
Grammar: Often used in the plural: 'take precautions'. Can be used with 'a' or 'the'.
Patterns
- take precautions
- as a precaution
- precaution against something
You should take precautions against fire by checking your smoke alarms.
As a precaution, she locked all the doors before leaving.
The company took extra precautions to protect customer data.
nouncountabletechnical
A measure taken to prevent something from happening, especially in a medical or safety context.
Grammar: Often used with 'take' or 'use'.
Patterns
- take precautions against something
- precautionary measures
Doctors took precautions to avoid infection during the surgery.
The laboratory follows strict precautions when handling chemicals.
Word forms
| plural | precautions |
|---|
Common combinations
- take precautions
- We took precautions to avoid getting lost.
- as a precaution
- He wore a mask as a precaution.
- safety precaution
- Wearing a helmet is a basic safety precaution.
- precaution against
- Vaccination is a precaution against serious illness.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- precautionary adjective
- Done as a precaution to prevent something bad.
Commonly confused: precaution or caution?
precaution vs caution
Caution means great care to avoid danger, or a warning. A precaution is a specific action you take in advance.
Practice
Choose the best word: We took ___ to protect the plants from frost.
Choose one answer.
The phrase 'take precautions' is a common collocation meaning to do things in advance to prevent harm. 'Caution' is uncountable and means care or a warning, so it does not fit the pattern 'take ... to protect'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “precaution”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.