precautionary
adjective
precautionary is spelled P-R-E-C-A-U-T-I-O-N-A-R-Y: 13 letters and 5 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,270th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, precautionary means “Of, pertaining to, or serving as a precaution” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in precautionary?
| Letters | 13: P-R-E-C-A-U-T-I-O-N-A-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 29,270th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is precautionary?
Precautionary appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,270th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce precautionary?
- US
Precautionary has 5 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-precautionary.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of precautionary
- more precautionary comparative
- most precautionary superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does precautionary mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of, pertaining to, or serving as a precaution.
The port cities were quarantined as a precautionary measure, though no cases of the disease had been found.
noun
- 1
obsoleteA precaution.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Precautionary in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense of, pertaining to, or serving as a precaution:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | précautionneux |
| German | vorsorglich |
| Portuguese | precaucionário |
| Spanish | precautorio |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does precautionary come from?
From precaution + -ary.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).