Other forms: cautioned, cautions, cautioning
To caution is to advise care before acting. Caution against it, she cautioned them, cautioned about the risk.
In British policing, to caution somebody has two specific meanings: reading them the formal warning about their right to silence, and issuing a caution as a disposal short of prosecution, which is recorded and can be cited later. As a noun, caution is carefulness — proceed with caution, err on the side of caution. Note cautious, cautionary, and throw caution to the wind.
1verbcautionTo advise care before acting.
“The lawyer cautioned against saying anything at all.”
2nouncarefulnessCarefulness, or a formal police warning.
“He was given a caution and it stayed on record for years.”
caution is a warning or carefulness.
Latin cautio comes from cavere, to beware — the same verb as in caveat, meaning let him beware, and caveat emptor, let the buyer beware.
Latin
cautiō
Old French
caution — security, surety
Middle English
caucioun — bail, guarantee, pledge
English, today
caution
Built from
Recorded since 1297 as Middle English caucioun (“bail, guarantee, pledge”), from Old French caution (“security, surety”), itself from Latin cautiō, from cautus, past participle of caveo (“be on one's guard”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA