incautious
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of incautious
1695–1705; in- 3 + cautious; compare Latin incautus in same sense
Explanation
If you're incautious, you don't worry about problems that might come up — you're a little irresponsible. An incautious person might paddle off in a kayak without putting a life jacket on. Incautious behavior might include betting your whole paycheck on a poker game, bringing six stray dogs home, or lighting a bottle rocket and launching it from your hand. Incautious children are probably used to hearing adults telling them to be careful. Incautious is a combination of in-, "not" and cautious, "careful." It's derived from the Latin adjective incautus stemming from the noun cautionem, "caution, care, or foresight."
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.
We’re a long way from those incautious days.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
Even the animals are distinctive—especially Kōkī, the pet parrot who acts like a Shakespearean fool, squawking incautious truths to Tongan authority.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2025
Still, it was an inappropriate, incautious statement from a Supreme Court justice who should have known better.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2024
Nonetheless, its performance has been spotty and sometimes incautious, including revealing less-than-certain intelligence during the war.
From Washington Post ● May 25, 2022
From all the available evidence, there seemed to be little doubt that McCandless—rash and incautious by nature—had committed a careless blunder, confusing one plant for another, and died as a consequence.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
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.
