on the safe side

Meanings

prepositional phrase

Taking precautions.
Just to be on the safe side, why don't you Google him?
1 more example
Oh, no, my dear, I ordered that six months ago, just to be on the safe side. But upon my soul, I was sure then that we'd be on board to-day.
c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 2

Danish på den sikre side, for en sikkerheds skyld

Dutch veiligheidshalve, voor de zekerheid

Finnish varmuuden vuoksi

French par acquit de conscience, par précaution

German vorsichtshalber, sicherheitshalber

Greek για κάθε ενδεχόμενο

Hungarian a biztonság kedvéért, biztos, ami biztos

Italian per ogni evenienza

Japanese 念のために

Polish występując bezpiecznie

Spanish curarse en salud

Swedish på säkra sidan, för säkerhets skull

Cite this entry

APA

on the safe side. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20safe%20side

MLA

“on the safe side.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20safe%20side. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on the safe side,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20safe%20side.