as in safeguard
a measure taken to preclude loss or injury
as parents of young children, they have taken the usual precaution of locking up their household cleansers
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of precaution
Roughly 90 minutes later, Brooklyn Park Police, having learned that a legislator was involved in the earlier shooting, were dispatched to another legislator’s home as a precaution, documents say.
—
Audrey Conklin , Bill Melugin , Sarah Rumpf-Whitten , Matt Finn, FOXNews.com, 16 June 2025
Always read directions and take precautions when using these herbicides.
—Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 15 June 2025
Then in 2024, Paul came down with a common cold and, as a precaution, his mother, Amy, took him to the doctor.
—Meredith Kile, People.com, 14 June 2025
Some protesters started wearing masks more frequently in 2020 during protests and demonstrations following George Floyd’s murder, both as a health precaution during the COVID-19 pandemic and as a way to protect themselves against retaliation.
—Tiffani Jackson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for precaution
Audrey Conklin , Bill Melugin , Sarah Rumpf-Whitten , Matt Finn, FOXNews.com, 16 June 2025
Always read directions and take precautions when using these herbicides.
—Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 15 June 2025
Then in 2024, Paul came down with a common cold and, as a precaution, his mother, Amy, took him to the doctor.
—Meredith Kile, People.com, 14 June 2025
Some protesters started wearing masks more frequently in 2020 during protests and demonstrations following George Floyd’s murder, both as a health precaution during the COVID-19 pandemic and as a way to protect themselves against retaliation.
—Tiffani Jackson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for precaution
Recent Examples of Synonyms for precaution
Noun
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Despite known risks, there are currently no standardized safeguards requiring companies to detect or interrupt these escalating interactions.—
Thomas Westerholm,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 June 2025
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But bats’ high p53 activity steps in as a safeguard, removing any cells that start to go rogue.—
Jenny Lehmann,
Discover Magazine,
17 June 2025
Noun
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Padlocks, sickles and other objects made of iron, a metal said to possess anti-demonic powers, were stashed in the grave as preventives.—
Franz Lidz,
New York Times,
5 Sep. 2023
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But although human vaccines function primarily as preventives, offering immunity to animals such as black-footed ferrets can be a conservation strategy of last resort.—
Katherine J. Wu,
The Atlantic,
15 June 2023
Noun
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That’s because Republicans are still hustling to win approval for provisions that their nonpartisan rules referee deemed ineligible for protection from a Democratic filibuster.—
Burgess Everett,
semafor.com,
26 June 2025
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By the spring of 1975, Peltier had set up camp on the reservation at Oglala, offering protection to elders.—
Nick Estes,
New Yorker,
26 June 2025
Noun
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So, out of an abundance of caution, in 1999 the AAP and the U.S. Public Health Service issued a joint statement that recommended that thimerosal be removed from childhood vaccines.—
Tara Haelle,
Scientific American,
25 June 2025
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She was transported to the hospital out of an abundance of caution.—
Anna Commander,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Precaution.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/precaution. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.
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