Meanings
comparative more watchful · superlative most watchful
- Fully observant, vigilant, or aware.
The teacher kept a watchful eye on her pupils during the school trip.
1 more example
But there was so much at stake that I had to take some risk—though even when I was far away there has never been a day when the Shire has not been guarded by watchful eyes.
1954 July 29, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “The Shadow of the Past”, in The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published September 1973, →ISBN, page 93Synonyms: jealous
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveFully observant, vigilant, or aware.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveengaged in or accustomed to close observation
adjectivecarefully observant or attentive; on the lookout for possible danger
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishwaccheful
- Englishwatchful
From Middle English waccheful, equivalent to watch + -ful. Compare West Frisian waaks (“watchful”), Dutch waaks, waakzaam (“watchful”), German wachsam (“watchful”), Swedish vaksam (“watchful”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bengali সতর্ক
- সতর্ক (śotork)observant, vigilant and aware
Bulgarian бдителен, внимателен
- бдителен (bditelen)observant, vigilant and aware
- внимателен (vnimatelen)observant, vigilant and aware
Danish vågent
- vågentobservant, vigilant and aware
Dutch waakzaam
- waakzaamobservant, vigilant and aware
Finnish valpas
- valpasobservant, vigilant and aware
French attentif, vigilant
- attentifobservant, vigilant and aware
- vigilantobservant, vigilant and aware
German wachsam
- wachsamobservant, vigilant and aware
Hindi सजग
- सजग (sajag)observant, vigilant and aware
Irish airdeallach, cathaiseach
- airdeallachobservant, vigilant and aware
- cathaiseachobservant, vigilant and aware
Japanese 注意深い
- 注意深い (chūi-bukai)observant, vigilant and aware
Latin vigilax, evigilans
- vigilaxobservant, vigilant and aware
- evigilansobservant, vigilant and aware
Latvian modrs
- modrsobservant, vigilant and aware
Māori matatū, mataara
- matatūobservant, vigilant and aware
- mataaraobservant, vigilant and aware
- ohitiobservant, vigilant and aware
- owhitiobservant, vigilant and aware
- whakamātakiobservant, vigilant and aware
- whakamatatūobservant, vigilant and aware
- hihiwaobservant, vigilant and aware
- matakanaobservant, vigilant and aware
- hiwahiwaobservant, vigilant and aware
- tūmatohiobservant, vigilant and aware
Norwegian Bokmål vaktsom
- vaktsomobservant, vigilant and aware
Portuguese vigilante, alerta
- vigilanteobservant, vigilant and aware
- alertaobservant, vigilant and aware
- atentoobservant, vigilant and aware
Romanian vigilent, atent
- vigilentobservant, vigilant and aware
- atentobservant, vigilant and aware
Russian бди́тельный
- бди́тельный (bdítelʹnyj)observant, vigilant and aware
Scottish Gaelic faireil
- faireilobservant, vigilant and aware
Spanish atento, avizor
- atentoobservant, vigilant and aware
- avizorobservant, vigilant and aware
Cite this entry
watchful. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/watchful
“watchful.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/watchful. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “watchful,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/watchful.
Source: watchful on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.