Precautionary

adj, noun

adj, noun ·5 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A precaution. obsolete

    "Thou seest, Belford, by the above precautionaries, that I forget nothing."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of, pertaining to, or serving as a precaution.

    "The port cities were quarantined as a precautionary measure, though no cases of the disease had been found."

Adjective
  1. 1
    taken in advance to protect against possible danger or failure wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
forebodingforehandedforerunningforeseeingforesightedforethoughted

Example

More examples

"I would have to take precautionary steps to keep him out."

Etymology

From precaution + -ary.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.