precaution

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

• IPA^(key): /pɹiːˈkɔːʃən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɹiːˈkɔː.ʃən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɹiːˈkɔ.ʃən/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /pɹiːˈkɑ.ʃən/, [pɹiːˈkɑ.ʃn̩], /pɹɪˈkɑ.ʃən/, [pɹɪˈkɑ.ʃn̩]

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• Hyphenation: pre‧cau‧tion

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

   • July 2, 1826, John Henry Newman, The Philosophical Temper, First Enjoined by the Gospel

     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

   • 1955 December, H. A. Vallance, “The Highland Centenary—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 859:

     Despite all these precautions, however, severe storms sometimes caused drifts which brought traffic completely to a standstill.

• forecaution

• prevention

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.

• preauction, unoperatic