caveat

[kav-ee-aht, -at, kah-vee-, key-]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR caveat ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a warning or caution; admonition.

Law. a legal notice to a court or public officer to suspend a certain proceeding until the notifier is given a hearing: a caveat filed against the probate of a will.

Origin of caveat

< Latin: let him beware, 3rd person singular present subjunctive of cavēre to take care; see caution

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for caveat

admonition, monition, alarm, caution, forewarning, sign

Examples from the Web for caveat

Contemporary Examples of caveat

The one caveat: Asprey advises only buying butter made from grass-fed or pastured cows.
Bulletproof Coffee and the Case for Butter as a Health Food
DailyBurn
December 27, 2014
Hulagu then gave his men licence to rape, kill and plunder with the caveat that Christians and Jews were to be spared.
In Threatening Baghdad, Militants Seek to Undo 800 Years of History
Justin Marozzi
August 16, 2014
Instead, MacMillan has the temerity to issue a caveat mid-thrust.
‘Halt and Catch Fire’ and AMC’s Push to Reset Dramas
Andrew Romano
May 30, 2014
But then, just when we feared that the Cox we suspected we knew was about to get too schmaltzy, too idyllic, she adds a caveat.
Courteney Cox Gets Personal About Her Directorial Debut, ‘Just Before I Go’
Kevin Fallon
April 29, 2014
Such a caveat is welcoming after having been force-fed the western canon by certain others.
John Sutherland‘s Enjoyable Little History of Literature
Malcolm Forbes
November 29, 2013

Historical Examples of caveat

This plan is preferred by many inventors to filing a caveat.
Practical Pointers for Patentees
Franklin Cresee
That sense of caveat donor was perhaps their most pathetic characteristic.
The Dwelling Place of Light, Complete
Winston Churchill
A gentleman: that was an argument against which it was futile to enter a caveat.
The Goose Man
Jacob Wassermann
But, if he does, he can at once enter a caveat in the Probate Registry.
The Herapath Property
J. S. Fletcher
I felt I must give you the opportunity of entering a caveat.
Lady Lilith
Stephen McKenna

British Dictionary definitions for caveat

caveat

noun

law a formal notice requesting the court or officer to refrain from taking some specified action without giving prior notice to the person lodging the caveat

a warning; caution

Word Origin for caveat

C16: from Latin, literally: let him beware

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for caveat

1540s, from Latin, literally "let him beware," 3rd person singular present subjunctive of cavere "to beware, take heed, watch, guard against," from PIE root *skeue- "to pay attention, perceive" (cf. Sanskrit kavih "wise, sage, seer, poet;" Lithuanian kavoti "tend, safeguard;" Armenian cucanem "I show;" Latin cautio "wariness;" Greek koein "to mark, perceive, hear," kydos "glory, fame," literally "that which is heard of;" Old Church Slavonic chujo "to feel, perceive, hear," cudo "wonder," literally "that which is heard of;" Czech (z)koumati "to perceive, be aware of;" Serbian chuvati "watch, heed;" Old English sceawian "to look at" (cf. show (v.)); Middle Dutch schoon "beautiful, bright," properly "showy;" Gothic hausjan "hear").