CAREFUL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does careful mean? 

• CAREFUL (adjective)
  The adjective CAREFUL has 5 senses:

1. exercising caution or showing care or attention

2. cautiously attentive

3. unhurried and with care and dignity

4. full of cares or anxiety

5. mindful of the future in spending money

  Familiarity information: CAREFUL used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CAREFUL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Exercising caution or showing care or attention

Context example:

careful about one's behavior

Similar:

blow-by-blow (providing great detail)

thorough (painstakingly careful and accurate)

studious (marked by care and effort)

protective ((usually followed by 'of') solicitously caring or mindful)

particular (providing specific details or circumstances)

overcareful; too-careful (excessively or unduly careful)

minute; narrow (characterized by painstaking care and detailed examination)

detailed; elaborate; elaborated (developed or executed with care and in minute detail)

conscientious; painstaking; scrupulous (characterized by extreme care and great effort)

close (rigorously attentive; strict and thorough)

certain; sure (exercising or taking care great enough to bring assurance)

Also:

cautious (showing careful forethought)

diligent (characterized by care and perseverance in carrying out tasks)

prudent (careful and sensible; marked by sound judgment)

Attribute:

carefulness (the quality of being careful and painstaking)

Antonym:

careless (marked by lack of attention or consideration or forethought or thoroughness; not careful)

Derivation:

carefulness (the quality of being careful and painstaking)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cautiously attentive

Synonyms:

careful; heedful

Context example:

heedful of his father's advice

Similar:

aware; mindful (bearing in mind; attentive to)

Derivation:

carefulness (the trait of being cautious; being attentive to possible danger)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Unhurried and with care and dignity

Synonyms:

careful; deliberate; measured

Context example:

with all deliberate speed

Similar:

unhurried (relaxed and leisurely; without hurry or haste)

Derivation:

carefulness (the quality of being careful and painstaking)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Full of cares or anxiety

Context example:

Thou art careful and troubled about many things

Similar:

troubled (characterized by or indicative of distress or affliction or danger or need)

Domain usage:

archaicism; archaism (the use of an archaic expression)

Derivation:

carefulness (the trait of being cautious; being attentive to possible danger)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Mindful of the future in spending money

Synonyms:

careful; thrifty

Context example:

careful with money

Similar:

provident (providing carefully for the future)

Derivation:

carefulness (the quality of being careful and painstaking)

carefulness (the trait of being cautious; being attentive to possible danger)

 Context examples 

“Do be careful,” she called after me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Our findings call for the careful evaluation and reinterpretation of experiments on 'spin-orbit physics' and magnetism when the interfaces or surfaces of materials with platinum group atoms are involved.

(Iridium 'loses its identity' when interfaced with nickel, National Science Foundation)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration urges careful consideration before using any pain-relieving medication during pregnancy.

(Acetaminophen exposure in pregnancy linked to higher risk of ADHD, autism, National Institutes of Health)

Only be careful that you are at the far side of the bed, and push her well to the front.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

These are daring men, and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us some harm unless we are careful.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Well, we had no particular reason to make a careful examination of the hall.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"We must be very careful here," said the kind-hearted Woodman, "or we may hurt these pretty little people so they will never get over it."

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The slow, careful steps came along the hall; the Count was evidently prepared for some surprise—at least he feared it.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But Murray was careful to stress her study did not establish a cause-and-effect relationship between vitamin A deficiency and development of tuberculosis.

(Vitamin A Supplement May Thwart Tuberculosis Infection, Jessica Berman/VOA)

At other times, it is better to hesitate and decide only after careful deliberation.

(Young people at risk of addiction show differences in key brain region, University of Cambridge)