Link Centre Dictionary

prudent

pru·dent

UK/ˈpɹuː.dənt/ US/ˈpɹu.dənt/ uncommon

adjective

1.

careful and sensible; marked by sound judgment

  • “a prudent manager”
  • “prudent rulers”
  • “prudent hesitation”
  • “more prudent to hide than to fight”
2.

showing wise self-restraint in speech and behavior especially in preserving prudent silence

  • “maintained a prudent silence”
Similar

Origin

Inherited from Middle English prudent, from Old French prudent, from Latin prūdēns, contracted from prōvidēns (“foresight”) (English providence), the present participle of prōvideō (“to forsee; to provide for”). Unrelated to prude. Doublet of provident. Displaced native Old English glēaw.

Phrases

  • prudent man rule

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.