carefully

English

Etymology

From Middle English carfulli, carefulliche, from Old English carfullīċe, ċearfullīċe (“carefully, diligently”), equivalent to careful +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛːf(ə)li/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: care‧ful‧ly, caref‧ully

Adverb

Specialist worked carefully to restore the antique mirror.

carefully (comparative more carefully, superlative most carefully)

1. (obsolete) Sorrowfully.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     […] there was she faine / To call them all in order to her ayde, / And them conjure, upon eternall paine, / To counsell her, so carefully dismayd, / How she might heale her sonne […]

2. With care; attentively, circumspectly.

   As he was a politician, he discussed all subjects carefully, not offending anyone.

   He carefully studied the papers, while planning his next move.

   He carefully avoided the subject all evening.

   • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0091:

     Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean. ¶ There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.

3. Conscientiously, painstakingly, fastidiously, meticulously

Derived terms

• tread carefully

Translations

in a careful manner

• Arabic: بِعِنَايَة (bi-ʕināya)
• Armenian: զգույշ (hy) (zguyš), կամաց (hy) (kamacʻ)
• Azerbaijani: ehtiyatla, ehtiyatlı
• Basque: kontuz (eu), arretaz
• Belarusian: асцяро́жна (ascjaróžna)
• Bulgarian: грижливо (bg) (grižlivo), внимателно (bg) (vnimatelno)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: acuradament (ca)
• Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 小心地 (zh) (xiǎoxīn de)

• Czech: opatrně (cs)
• Danish: forsigtig
• Dutch: voorzichtig (nl)
• Esperanto: zorgeme, zorge
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: tarkasti (fi), tarkoin (fi), varovasti (fi), varovaisesti (fi)
• French: soigneusement (fr)
• Galician: coidadosamente
• German: vorsichtig (de)
• Greek: επιμελώς (el) (epimelós)

  Ancient: ἐπιμελῶς (epimelôs)

• Irish: go haireach
• Italian: minuziosamente (it), accuratamente (it), meticolosamente (it), puntigliosamente (it), attentamente (it)
• Japanese: じっくり (ja) (jikkuri), 慎重に (しんちょうに, shinchō ni)
• Khmer: ដោយប្រុងប្រយ័ត្ន (daoy proŋ prɑyat)
• Korean: 주의하여 (juuihayeo), 조심스럽게 (josimseureopge), 신중히 (ko) (sinjunghi)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بە وردی (be wirdî), بە ھێواشی (be hêwaşî)

• Latin: curiose, caute (la)
• Middle English: sadly
• Navajo: tʼáá tłehee
• Plautdietsch: behutsom
• Polish: ostrożnie (pl)
• Portuguese: cuidadosamente (pt), cautelosamente
• Romanian: cu grijă
• Russian: осторо́жно (ru) (ostoróžno), аккура́тно (ru) (akkurátno), внима́тельно (ru) (vnimátelʹno)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: brìžljivo (sh), pòmnjivo (sh), pȏmno (sh)

  Roman: brìžljivo (sh), pòmnjivo (sh), pȏmno (sh)

• Shoshone: ian
• Spanish: cuidadosamente (es), a conciencia, minuciosamente (es), con esmero
• Swahili: taratibu (sw)
• Swedish: försiktig (sv)
• Tocharian B: anaiśai
• Turkish: dikkatlice, itinayla, özenle (tr), titizlikle (tr)
• Ukrainian: обере́жно (oberéžno)
• Uyghur: پۇختا (puxta)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can