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cautionary

UK/ˈkɔːʃənəɹi/US/ˈkɔʃəˌnɛɹi/
adjectiveB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,538 of 15,258neutral

Cautionary means meant to serve as a warning. A cautionary tale, cautionary note, offered as a caution.

It appears mostly in the phrase cautionary tale, which is a story told because of what went wrong in it. The warning is the purpose, not a side effect — a sad story is not cautionary unless it is told to warn. Note caution beneath it.

Definitions of cautionary

  1. 1adjectivecautionaryMeant to serve as a warning.B2+

    “Her grandfather's gambling debts became a cautionary tale for the whole family.”

cautionary is a quality of purpose.

Where it comes from

  1. Medieval Latin

    cautiōnārius

  2. English, today

    cautionary

Borrowed from Medieval Latin cautiōnārius.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

cautionary in the wild

  • A cautionary tale or moral tale is a tale told in folklore to warn its listener of a danger.

    Cautionary tale

  • There are three essential parts to a cautionary tale, though they can be introduced in a large variety of ways.

    Cautionary tale

  • A cautionary tale is a story where a person ignores a warning and commits a dangerous or forbidden act, which leads to an unpleasant outcome.

    Cautionary Tales

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.