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What is "precautionary"

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
precautionary
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a preventative/precautionary measure (=something done to prevent something bad)
▪ Vaccination against disease is a sensible preventative measure.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
demand
▪ It can be argued that rates of interest may also influence the precautionary demand.
▪ The increased use of credit cards in recent years has reduced both the transactions and precautionary demands.
measure
▪ Tobacco that tolerates salinity is a precautionary measure against the rising tides that a changing climate will bring.
▪ Center Jelani McCoy did not participate in the defensive drills as a precautionary measure.
▪ Short confidentiality clauses in standard conditions are really only precautionary measures to be relied upon in an emergency.
▪ One resident was taken to hospital with chest pains as a precautionary measure but was released after a check-up.
▪ Nevertheless, it is a serious condition if the eye is affected, and sensible precautionary measures should be taken.
▪ Nine more were taken in as a precautionary measure while firefighters ventilated the building and removed the canisters involved.
▪ Nevertheless, it was time to take a little precautionary measure.
▪ The issue probably deserved more consultation and more precautionary measures.
principle
▪ It is therefore easier to prevent development on the basis of the precautionary principle, rather than look for possible solutions.
▪ The precautionary principle was one of many sparks that ignited protests during the World Trade Organisation meetings in Seattle last year.
▪ NGOs are also working to implement the precautionary principle at a local level.
▪ Our responsibility to future generations - the benchmark of 2012 - research - acting on the precautionary principle.
▪ However, the commission also subsumes the precautionary principle under a broader framework of risk analysis.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Ansah was carried off with concussion at Luton on Saturday, but had a precautionary brain scan and reported fit this morning.
▪ But the decision to give antibiotics to Yeltsin may have been precautionary and not indicative of his condition.
▪ It can be argued that rates of interest may also influence the precautionary demand.
▪ The precautionary principle was one of many sparks that ignited protests during the World Trade Organisation meetings in Seattle last year.
▪ The Communist moves then, however, were largely precautionary.
▪ The seasoned fighter would be well aware of this and would take precautionary counter-measures.
▪ Unfortunately, the very live bat bit back, and Osbourne underwent a painful series of precautionary rabies injections.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Precautionary

Precautionary \Pre*cau"tion*a*ry\, a. Of or pertaining to precaution, or precautions; as, precautionary signals.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
precautionary

1720, from precaution + -ary.

Wiktionary
precautionary

a. Of, pertaining to, or serving as a precaution n. (context obsolete English) A precaution.

WordNet
precautionary

adj. taken in advance to protect against possible danger or failure; "gave precautionary advice"; "I would take precautionary steps to keep him away" [syn: precautional]

Usage examples of "precautionary".

Prime Minister thought that as a precautionary measure the Admiralty should assemble a large number of small vessels in readiness to proceed to ports and inlets on the French coast.

It was a precautionary tactic, but I have to say, it was a compliment to think anyone in the Guard imagined me a threat.

The Space Precautionary Act had never been heard of, and the Company was responsible only for wages, if and when.

Under the Revised Space Precautionary Act, passenger ships were required to be built for human control throughout on the theory that no automatic safety device could replace human judgment in an emergency.

Miss Magic and took a precautionary look out the backdoor as she always did since that awful night when that horrible shadow person with the knife had tried to break in.

Jardine made no attempt to disguise the truth that opium was the staple of his trade, or that his precautionary measures were designed to temporarily allay the fears of the Chinese officials.

It was a precautionary measure rather than an admission of defeat, but with the hostile atmosphere that pervaded, the British were determined not to let any more of their goods fall into Chinese hands.

I did not look forward to the encounter with anything but apprehension, and as a precautionary measure I fed beforehand.

It had been assigned by the military years ago, as part of their precautionary routine, and had probably never been used before today.

As he was leaving to attend to his part of the play, a precautionary idea flashed upon Maggie.

Damon insisted that she should spend a precautionary day in bed each time, and he had been prepared to clear her channels again if needed, they remained clear.

Not excitement, she told herself severely, merely a precautionary bracing against his dislike of her.

As a precautionary measure, they had extinguished all of the torches down below.

Heindral by this action from outside, the leader of the Castellans demonstrated a little redeeming wisdom by declining to issue an order for the precautionary levying of the militia, on the grounds that it would be both provocative and ineffective.

After visiting all the posts, and adopting every precautionary measure, Bonaparte returned to headquarters.