caveat

ca·ve·at

noun \ˈka-vē-ˌät, -ˌat; ˈkä-vē-ˌät; ˈkā-vē-ˌat\

Definition of CAVEAT

1

a : a warning enjoining one from certain acts or practices

b : an explanation to prevent misinterpretation

c : a modifying or cautionary detail to be considered when evaluating, interpreting, or doing something

2

: a legal warning to a judicial officer to suspend a proceeding until the opposition has a hearing

Examples of CAVEAT

1. His investment advice comes with a caveat: that the stock market is impossible to predict with absolute accuracy.
2. Sound great? There's just one caveat: Knowledge about how genes work is still in the scientific Stone Age. —Andrea Knox, Chicago Tribune, 4 Aug. 2000
3. We'll add a caveat of our own for parents: After your kids walk through 17,500 gal. of swirling water, they're not going to be satisfied running through the lawn sprinkler. —Jim Wilson, Popular Mechanics, July 1999
4. But the youthquake in the new economy comes with a caveat that also may begin applying to politics. If you're inexperienced and you want a big job, you'd better be smart as hell. —Jonathan Alter, Newsweek, 22 Nov. 1999
5. … a cluster bomb can destroy objects over a wider area, with the important caveat that it is effective only if the bomblets have sufficient destructive power on their own. —Norman Friedman, Desert Victory, 1991

Origin of CAVEAT

Latin, let him beware, from cavēre — more at hear

First Known Use: 1533

Other Legal Terms

actionable, alienable, carceral, chattel, complicity, decedent, larceny, malfeasance, modus operandi

Rhymes with CAVEAT

acrobat, aerobat, aerostat, alley cat, apparat, Ararat, arrive at, assignat, autocrat, Automat, bell the cat, big brown bat, bureaucrat, butterfat, cervelat, chew the fat, civet cat, concordat, coolie hat, copycat, cowboy hat, democrat, diplomat, Dixiecrat, Eurocrat, fungo bat, habitat, hang one's hat, jungle cat, Kattegat, kleptocrat, Laundromat, leopard cat, marrowfat, mobocrat, monocrat, Montserrat, Norway rat, ochlocrat, off the bat, opera hat, pas de quatre, Persian cat, photostat, pit-a-pat, plutocrat, poke fun at, pussycat, railroad flat, rat-a-tat, rheostat, scaredy-cat, semimatte, shovel hat, smell a rat, spoonbill cat, take aim at, technocrat, theocrat, thermostat, tiger cat, Uniate, vampire bat, water rat, welcome mat, where it's at, ziggurat