adjective
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discreet or cautious in managing one's activities; circumspect
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practical and careful in providing for the future
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exercising good judgment or common sense
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of prudent
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin prūdent- (stem of prūdēns ), contraction of prōvidēns provident
Explanation
Describe an action as prudent if it is the wise thing to do under the existing circumstances. If you're getting in trouble, it is probably prudent to keep your mouth closed and just listen. If you show good and careful judgment when handling practical matters, you can be described as prudent. Similarly, a wise and well-thought-through decision or action can be called prudent. The word comes from a contracted form of the Latin prōvidēns, from the verb "to foresee." The English word provident, "wise in planning for the future," is the non-contracted descendent of the same Latin root.
Vocabulary lists containing prudent
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The Hobbit
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
With his official forecasters warning that, in a very uncertain world, his finances face exceptional risks, playing a wait-and-see game feels like a prudent move.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
‘You don’t make your wealth in one investment. You make it over the course of a lifetime with prudent savings.’
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026
In essence, it is this: How specific does a lawsuit have to be before a fiduciary’s documented, reasoned judgment gets treated as a legal liability instead of prudent diversification?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Take that dichotomy between the self-importance running like a virus through young men and the prudent actions taken by The Cornell Daily Sun staff.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
But now I understand the gravity of what I was proposing— that a four-year-old child be watchful, prudent, and shrewd, that I curtail your happiness, that you submit to a loss of time.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
