careful

English

Alternative forms

• carefull (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English careful, from Old English carful; equivalent to care +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛːfəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛ(ə)ɹfəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛː(ɹ)fəl, -ɛəɹfəl

Adjective

careful (comparative more careful, superlative most careful)

1. Taking care; attentive to potential danger, error or harm; cautious.

   He was a slow and careful driver.

   Be very careful while trekking through the jungle.

2. Conscientious and painstaking; meticulous.

   They made a careful search of the crime scene.

   • 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 7:

     At the same time, we were cognisant that careful scholars should never solely rely on their own impressionistic observations, and, that our own impressions were inexact and not capable of being quantified.

3. (obsolete) Full of care or grief; sorrowful, sad.
4. (obsolete) Full of cares or anxiety; worried, troubled.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Where through long watch, and late daies weary toile, / She soundly slept, and carefull thoughts did quite assoile.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:cautious
• See also Thesaurus:meticulous

Antonyms

• careless

Derived terms

• be careful
• be careful what you wish for
• carefully
• carefulness
• noncareful
• overcareful
• ultracareful
• uncareful

Translations

cautious

Arabic: حَذِر (ar) (ḥaḏir) Belarusian: асцяро́жны (ascjaróžny), пі́льны (pílʹny), ува́жлівы (uvážlivy), акура́тны (akurátny) Bengali: সতর্ক (bn) (śotork), সাবধান (bn) (śabodhan) Bulgarian: грижли́в (bg) (grižlív), внима́телен (bg) (vnimátelen) Catalan: cautelós, anar amb compte (to be careful) Chinese: Mandarin: 當心 / 当心 (zh) (dāngxīn), 小心 (zh) (xiǎoxīn) Crimean Tatar: saqt ol, muqayt ol Czech: opatrný (cs) Danish: forsigtig Dutch: voorzichtig (nl), behoedzaam (nl), omzichtig (nl), prudent (nl) Esperanto: zorga, zorgema, singarda Estonian: ettevaatlik, tähelepanelik Faroese: varin, ansin, varur, hyggin, gáin Finnish: varovainen (fi) French: prudent (fr) Galician: cauto Georgian: ყურადღებიანი (q̇uradɣebiani) German: vorsichtig (de), behutsam (de) Greek: προσεκτικός (el) (prosektikós) Ancient: ἐπιμελής (epimelḗs) Gujarati: સાવધાન (sāvdhān) Hebrew: זָהִיר (zahír) Hindi: सावधान (hi) (sāvdhān), सतर्क (hi) (satark) Hungarian: óvatos (hu) Icelandic: var (is), varkár (is) Indonesian: hati-hati (id) Irish: aireach Italian: prudente (it), cauto (it), fare attenzione Japanese: 思慮深い (しりょぶかい, shiryobukai) Kazakh: сақ (saq) Korean: 조심하다 (ko) (josimhada), 신중하다 (ko) (sinjunghada) Latin: curiosus, cautus (la) Latvian: rūpīgs, uzmanīgs Macedonian: внимателен (vnimatelen) Malay: hati-hati (ms) Marathi: सावध (sāvadh) Neapolitan: accuorto Norwegian: Bokmål: forsiktig Occitan: téner ment Old English: carful Persian: محتاط (fa) (mohtât) Polish: ostrożny (pl) Portuguese: cauteloso (pt), cuidadoso (pt), prudente (pt), tomar cuidado (pt) (to be careful) Romanian: precaut (ro), prudent (ro), atent (ro), îngrijit (ro), grijuliu (ro) Russian: осторо́жный (ru) (ostoróžnyj), внима́тельный (ru) (vnimátelʹnyj) (attentive), аккура́тный (ru) (akkurátnyj) Sanskrit: सावधान (sa) (sāvadhāna), सतर्क (sa) (satarka) Scottish Gaelic: cùramach Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: о̏пре̄зан Roman: ȍprēzan (sh) Slovak: opatrný Slovene: skrben (sl) Spanish: cauto (es), cuidadoso (es), tener cuidado (to be careful) Swedish: försiktig (sv) Tagalog: maingat Tocharian B: imassu Turkish: dikkatli (tr) Ukrainian: обере́жний (oberéžnyj), акура́тний (uk) (akurátnyj), ува́жний (uk) (uvážnyj) Urdu: ساودھان (sāvdhān), سترک (satark) Welsh: gofalus (cy)

meticulous

Arabic: دَقِيق (ar) (daqīq) Bulgarian: стара́телен (bg) (starátelen), акура́тен (bg) (akuráten) Catalan: curós (ca), acurat Chinese: Mandarin: 過細 / 过细 (zh) (guòxì), 細緻 / 细致 (zh) (xìzhì), 仔細 / 仔细 (zh) (zǐxì) Czech: pečlivý (cs) Dutch: zorgvuldig (nl), grondig (nl), doortastend (nl) Finnish: huolellinen (fi) French: soigneux (fr), attentif (fr) German: sorgfältig (de) Greek: επιμελής (el) (epimelís) Hindi: सावधान (hi) (sāvdhān), सतर्क (hi) (satark), सचेत (hi) (sacet) Indonesian: teliti (id), cermat (id) Ingrian: hoolekas Irish: curamach Italian: accurato (it), attento (it) Japanese: 注意深い (ja) (ちゅういぶかい, chūibukai) Korean: 주의깊다 (juuigipda) Latin: meticulosus, diligens Latvian: rūpīgs, uzmanīgs Norman: souongneux Persian: دقیق (fa) (daqiq) Polish: drobiazgowy (pl) Portuguese: cuidadoso (pt), meticuloso (pt) Russian: тща́тельный (ru) (tščátelʹnyj), аккура́тный (ru) (akkurátnyj), стара́тельный (ru) (starátelʹnyj) Scottish Gaelic: cùramach Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: брѝжљив, бри̏жан, по̀мњив Roman: brìžljiv (sh), brȉžan (sh), pòmnjiv (sh) Slovak: starostlivý Spanish: cuidadoso (es), concienzudo (es), minucioso (es) Swedish: noggrann (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Esperanto: (please verify) zorgema

Further reading

• “careful”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• careful in Britannica Dictionary
• careful in Macmillan Collocations Dictionary
• careful in Ozdic collocation dictionary
• careful in WordReference English Collocations

Anagrams

• acreful