How do you pronounce precaution?

The recorded pronunciation is /pɹiːˈkɔ.ʃən/.

precaution

/pɹiːˈkɔ.ʃən/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.40 in modern English

Syllables: pre-cau-tion
IPA: /pɹiːˈkɔ.ʃən/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Previous caution or care; caution previously employed to prevent misfortune or to secure good.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

A measure taken beforehand to ward off evil or secure good or success; a precautionary act.

Countable; Uncountable

verb

To warn or caution beforehand.

Transitive verb

verb

To take precaution against.

Transitive verb

Example Sentences

"his life was saved by precaution"
"July 2, 1826, John Henry Newman, The Philosophical Temper, First Enjoined by the Gospel The ancient philosophers treasured up their supposed discoveries with miserable precaution."
"to take precautions against risks of accident"
"Despite all these precautions, however, severe storms sometimes caused drifts which brought traffic completely to a standstill."

Etymology

From French précaution, Latin praecautio, from praecavere, praecautum (“to guard against beforehand”); prae (“before”) + cavere (“be on one's guard”). See pre-, and caution.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /pɹiːˈkɔ.ʃən/
British English: /pɹiːˈkɔː.ʃən/

Usage

Inflected Forms

precautions (plural) precautions (present, singular) precautioning (participle, present) precautioned (participle, past) precautioned (past)

Derived Forms

overprecaution precautional precautionary unprecautioned

Frequently Paired Words

prevention

Synonyms

forecaution safeguard guard caution care forethought