caveat

[ kav-ee-aht, -at, kah-vee-, key- ]
See synonyms for caveat on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a warning or caution; admonition.

  2. 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

1
<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. 2024

How to use caveat in a sentence

  • He continued to grant no Assemblies till 1608, and would not allow “caveats” (limiting the powers of Bishops) to be enforced.

  • At last the seaman scrambled up and fetched him down, not without many protestations and caveats by the way.

    Sir Ludar | Talbot Baines Reed
  • It is needless to say that all the caveats are not quite so full of "plums," but this is certainly a wonder.

    Edison, His Life and Inventions | Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin
  • Caveats have proven to be, oftentimes, worse than worthless.

  • Surely it is safer to stop it up; for all the caveats in the world will not keep the kirk unpoisoned, so long as it remains.

British Dictionary definitions for caveat

caveat

/ (ˈkeɪvɪˌæt, ˈkæv-) /


noun
  1. 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

  2. a warning; caution

Origin of caveat

1
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