prudent

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈprudənt/ UK /ˈpruːdənt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
acting with care and sound judgment for the future

It is prudent to keep some savings for emergencies.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · acting with care and sound... cautious careful circumspect judicious sensible wise discreet sagacious

Opposites

imprudent reckless rash careless foolish

Word family

Forms prudently

Derived forms prudentlyprudence

Related forms prudential providence provident

Etymology

From Old French prudent, from Latin prudentem ('foreseeing, sagacious'), a contraction of providentem ('foreseeing'), from providere ('to foresee'), from pro- ('ahead') + videre ('to see').

prudens Latin videre Latin *weyd- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# prudent

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈprudənt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈpruːdənt/

## Meanings
1. acting with care and sound judgment for the future

## Examples
- It is prudent to keep some savings for emergencies.

## Synonyms
- cautious
- careful
- circumspect
- judicious
- sensible
- wise
- discreet
- sagacious

## Antonyms
- imprudent
- reckless
- rash
- careless
- foolish

## Derived Forms
- prudently
- prudence

## Related Forms
- prudential
- providence
- provident

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: prudens
- Root: videre
- Root: *weyd-

## Etymology
From Old French prudent, from Latin prudentem ('foreseeing, sagacious'), a contraction of providentem ('foreseeing'), from providere ('to foresee'), from pro- ('ahead') + videre ('to see').

## AI Etymology
Prudent is from Old French prudent, from Latin prudentem ('foreseeing, sagacious'), a contraction of providentem ('foreseeing'), from providere ('to foresee'), from pro- ('ahead') + videre ('to see'). Important recorded forms include prudens (Latin), videre (Latin), and *weyd- (Proto-Indo-European). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers acting with care and sound judgment for the future. The wider family includes derived forms such as prudently and prudence and related words such as prudential, providence, and provident.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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