Adjacent Words

Careful definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CAREFUL, a. [See Care.]
1. Full of care; anxious; solicitous.
Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. Luke 10.
2. Provident; attentive to support and protect; with of or for.
Thou hast been careful for us with all care. 2 Kings 4.
What could a careful father more have done. Dryden.
In present usage careful is generally followed by of; as, careful of health.
3. Watchful; cautious; giving good heed; as, be careful to maintain good works; be careful of your conversation.
4. Filling with care or solicitude; exposing to concern, anxiety or trouble; full of cares.
Raised to a careful height.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: exercising caution or showing care or attention; "they were careful when crossing the busy street"; "be careful to keep her shoes clean"; "did very careful research"; "careful art restorers"; "careful of the rights of others"; "careful about one's behavior" [ant: careless]
2: cautiously attentive; "careful of her feelings"; "heedful of his father's advice" [syn: careful, heedful]
3: unhurried and with care and dignity; "walking at the same measured pace"; "with all deliberate speed" [syn: careful, deliberate, measured]
4: full of cares or anxiety; "Thou art careful and troubled about many things"-Luke 10.41
5: mindful of the future in spending money; "careful with money" [syn: careful, thrifty]

Merriam Webster's

adjective (carefuller; carefullest) Date: before 12th century 1. archaic a. solicitous, anxious b. filling with care or solicitude 2. exercising or taking care 3. a. marked by attentive concern and solicitude b. marked by wary caution or prudence <be very careful with knives> c. marked by painstaking effort to avoid errors or omissions — often used with of or an infinitive <careful of money> <careful to adjust the machine> • carefully adverb • carefulness noun Synonyms: careful, meticulous, scrupulous, punctilious mean showing close attention to detail. careful implies attentiveness and cautiousness in avoiding mistakes <a careful worker>. meticulous may imply either commendable extreme carefulness or a hampering finicky caution over small points <meticulous scholarship>. scrupulous applies to what is proper or fitting or ethical <scrupulous honesty>. punctilious implies minute, even excessive attention to fine points <punctilious observance of ritual>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 painstaking, thorough. 2 cautious. 3 done with care and attention. 4 (usu. foll. by that + clause, or to + infin.) taking care; not neglecting. 5 (foll. by for, of) concerned for; taking care of. Derivatives: carefully adv. carefulness n. Etymology: OE carful (as CARE, -FUL)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Careful Care"ful (k[^a]r"f[.u]l), a. [AS. cearful.] 1. Full of care; anxious; solicitous. [Archaic] Be careful [Rev. Ver. ``anxious''] for nothing. --Phil. iv. 6. The careful plowman doubting stands. --Milton. 2. Filling with care or solicitude; exposing to concern, anxiety, or trouble; painful. The careful cold beginneth for to creep. --Spenser. By Him that raised me to this careful height. --Shak. 3. Taking care; giving good heed; watchful; cautious; provident; not indifferent, heedless, or reckless; -- often followed by of, for, or the infinitive; as, careful of money; careful to do right. Thou hast been careful for us with all this care. --2. Kings iv, 13. What could a careful father more have done? --Dryden. Syn: Anxious; solicitous; provident; thoughtful; cautious; circumspect; heedful; watchful; vigilant.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If you are careful, you give serious attention to what you are doing, in order to avoid harm, damage, or mistakes. If you are careful to do something, you make sure that you do it. Careful on those stairs!... We had to be very careful not to be seen... Pupils will need careful guidance on their choice of options. ? careless ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, oft ADJ about/with/of n, ADJ to-inf • carefully Have a nice time, dear, and drive carefully... He had chosen his words carefully in declaring that the murderers were madmen. ? carelessly ADV: ADV with v 2. Careful work, thought, or examination is thorough and shows a concern for details. He has decided to prosecute her after careful consideration of all the relevant facts... What we now know about the disease was learned by careful study of diseased organs. = painstaking ADJ: usu ADJ n • carefully He explained very carefully what he was doing. ADV: ADV with v 3. If you tell someone to be careful about doing something, you think that what they intend to do is probably wrong, and that they should think seriously before they do it. I think you should be careful about talking of the rebels as heroes... ADJ: v-link ADJ about/of -ing • carefully He should think carefully about actions like this which play into the hands of his opponents. ADV: ADV after v 4. If you are careful with something such as money or resources, you use or spend only what is necessary. It would force industries to be more careful with natural resources. = prudent ADJ: usu v-link ADJ with n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. (Rare.) Anxious, solicitous, concerned, troubled, uneasy. 2. Heedful, attentive, thoughtful. See provident. 3. Watchful, cautious, circumspect, vigilant.

Moby Thesaurus

Scotch, accurate, advertent, agog, alert, all ears, all eyes, assiduous, attentive, aware, calculating, canny, cautious, chary, cheeseparing, circumspect, concentrated, conscientious, conscionable, conscious, conserving, considerate, critical, curious, deliberate, diligent, discreet, discriminating, discriminative, duteous, dutiful, earnest, economic, economizing, enlightened, exact, fastidious, finical, finicking, finicky, forehanded, foresighted, frugal, fussy, gingerly, guarded, heedful, hesitant, intense, intent, intentive, judgmatic, judicial, judicious, labor-saving, leaving out nothing, loving, meticulous, mindful, money-saving, nice, niggling, noncommittal, observant, observing, on guard, on the ball, on the job, open-eared, open-eyed, openmouthed, overconscientious, overlooking no possibility, overscrupulous, painstaking, parsimonious, particular, pawky, penny-wise, politic, precise, provident, prudent, prudential, punctilious, punctual, reflecting, reflective, regardful, religious, safe, saving, scrimping, scrupulous, skimping, slow to act, solicitous, spare, sparing, strict, studied, systematic, tender, tender-conscienced, tentative, thorough, thoughtful, thrifty, time-saving, unadventurous, uncommunicative, undaring, unenterprising, unprecipitate, unwasteful, vigilant, wary, watchful, well-advised, well-judged