carefully
Americanadverb
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in a cautious way, with attention to possible risks and dangers.
Although somewhat "folksy" in his interview, the congressman carefully avoided pitfalls where he would be vulnerable to attack.
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in a thorough, attentive, or painstaking way, giving thought to avoiding errors or omissions.
I have to carefully examine the copy editor's marked-up manuscript, double-checking everything and approving or vetoing changes.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of carefully
First recorded before 1000; careful ( def. ) + -ly ( def. )
Explanation
Carefully means cautiously or painstakingly. If you carefully study your vocabulary words, you'll ace your next quiz! This adverb comes from the Old English carfullice — but before coming to mean "in a way that avoids harm," it meant "sorrowfully." In fact, the very oldest meaning of care was "to be anxious or to grieve." These days, you don't cry when you do something carefully. You just take your time and make sure you're doing it right and that no one's being harmed by it, like when you check carefully behind your car for the neighbor's cat before you back out of the driveway.
Vocabulary lists containing carefully
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.
It would be naive to think sounds and personalities aren't still carefully curated by talented teams.
From BBC • May 25, 2026
His visit was a highly-staged affair, featuring carefully curated images avidly watched by people worldwide, as they hadn’t had a window into China for over two decades.
From Salon • May 14, 2026
Roughly 90 percent of the UAE's population consists of foreigners and Dubai is its biggest city, with a carefully curated image for opulence and glamour.
From Barron's • Feb. 28, 2026
Most of us can’t simply uproot our life, quit our jobs and move to a carefully curated farmhouse in the country.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025
Everything she and Clara had so carefully curated over nearly seventy years was aflame, already beyond rescuing.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Definitions 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.
