precaution
part of speech
noun (a precaution, precautions)
meaning for a pupil
A precaution is something you do in advance to stop something bad or dangerous from happening. tree →
sense in the lessons
In safety lessons pupils learn precautions: wear a helmet, wear goggles in science, wash hands, put on sun cream. In everyday life people take an umbrella «as a precaution». In formal language, «safety precautions» are rules to follow. Phrases: take precautions, as a precaution, safety precautions, fire precautions.
examples
- Wear goggles as a precaution in the science lab. tree →
- We took an umbrella as a precaution. tree →
- Wearing a helmet is a sensible precaution when cycling. tree →
- The school practises fire drills as a safety precaution. tree →
- As a precaution, the beach was closed during the storm. tree →
- Washing hands is a simple precaution against germs. tree →
- Take all safety precautions before using the oven. tree →
- He knew very well what that meant; but he had taken his precautions and was not afraid. tree →
note
Countable noun; often plural «precautions». «Take precautions» is the usual verb. The adjective is «precautionary». «Pre-» means before: you act before the danger.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «precaution» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.