circumspective

[sur-kuhm-spek-tiv]

adjective

1. given to or marked by circumspection; watchful; cautious.

   His behavior was circumspective.

Other Word Forms

• circumspectively adverb
• uncircumspective adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of circumspective¹

First recorded in 1625–35; circumspect + -ive

Example Sentences

And thus also it may indicate that from this wider range of remembered facts dream-inferences have been drawn;—which inferences may be retrospective, prospective, or,—if I may use a word of Pope's with a new meaning, circumspective,—that is to say, relating not to the past or to the future, but to the present condition of matters beyond the range of ordinary perception.

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Females with young have ample cause for their circumspective demeanor toward adult males, which are especially inclined to eat the newborn.

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We have studied them somewhat in the circumspective way, and will devote a few pages to our theory about them.

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While he is retrospective and circumspective he is also prospective—he is a man of the far-look-ahead type.

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A brow austere, a circumspective eye.

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