caveat
Americannoun
-
a warning or caution.
Before proceeding with the investment, he was given a caveat about potential risks and volatility in the stock market.
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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.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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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
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a warning; caution
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of caveat
First recorded in 1530–40; from Latin: “let him beware,” 3rd-person singular present subjunctive of cavēre “to take care”; see caution
Explanation
A caveat is a warning. When someone adds a caveat to something they’re telling you to beware — maybe what they’re telling you comes with certain conditions or maybe there’s something dangerous lurking. When your new friend gives you directions to her house, and then says, “The caveat is that when it snows the driveway turns into an ice rink,” she's warning you that your travels could be dangerous. Caveat is also a legal term for when a lawyer asks for a break in proceedings. If a lawyer issues a caveat, she's filing a formal notice to suspend a trial until her client gets a hearing.
Vocabulary lists containing caveat
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Foreign Words and Phrases Commonly Used in English, List 1
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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.
The new deals come with a big caveat, in that they could be discarded after just a few months.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 27, 2026
This caveat is consistent with what all sides in the talks have acknowledged—that discussions on Iran’s nuclear program haven’t begun.
From Slate • Jun. 24, 2026
A political scientist or an elections lawyer assessing an AI response will catch failures even a brilliant engineer may miss: a skewed source, a misleading frame, a missing caveat.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 22, 2026
One caveat: The still working exception allows you to delay RMDs, not to dodge them completely.
From Barron's • Jun. 13, 2026
Our other caveat concerns the limits that locally available wild species set on the rise of food production.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
