caution

plural cautions

1. countableuncountablePrudence when faced with, or when expecting to face, danger; care taken in order to avoid risk or harm.

   take caution

   5 more examples

   have caution

   exercise great caution

   utmost caution is required when travelling in this dangerous neighbourhood

   act with caution

   proceed without due caution

2. countableuncountableA careful attention to the probable effects of an act, in order that failure or harm may be avoided.

   The guideline expressed caution against excessive radiographic imaging.

3. countableuncountableSecurity; guaranty; bail.

   The Parliament would yet give his majesty sufficient caution that the war should be vigorously prosecuted.

   1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater

4. countabledateduncountableOne who draws attention or causes astonishment by their behaviour.

   Oh, that boy, he's a caution! He does make me laugh.

   1 more example

   ‘You are a caution,’ she said, when she came out. ‘I don't understand you.’

   1915, W. Somerset Maugham, chapter 58, in Of Human Bondage

5. countableuncountablelawA formal warning given as an alternative to prosecution in minor cases.
6. countableuncountableball gamesA yellow card.

present singular third person cautions · participle present cautioning · participle past cautioned · past cautioned

1. transitiveTo warn; to alert, advise that caution is warranted.

   "Careful, Uwe," cautions my Venezuelan explorer friend, José Miguel Pérez, with a grim smile. "You're too big for us to carry back down."

   1989 May, Uwe George, “Venezuela's Islands in Time”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 535

   1 more example

   In its May 1965 issue, Life magazine condemned skateboards as a “menace to limb and even to life,” and cautioned readers about riders who “take over the paths made for peaceful strollers.”

   2018 July 13, Jaime Marie Davis, “How photographers have captured skateboarding through generations”, in CNN

2. UKtransitivelawTo read someone their formal legal rights as part of a lawful arrest.

   They're under arrest. Caution them, will you?

   1999 September 12, Anthony Horowitz et al., “Dead Man's Eleven”, in Midsomer Murders

3. ball gamesTo give a yellow card.