"err on the side of caution" meaning in English

See err on the side of caution in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-err on the side of caution.ogg Forms: errs on the side of caution [present, singular, third-person], erring on the side of caution [participle, present], erred on the side of caution [participle, past], erred on the side of caution [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} err on the side of caution (third-person singular simple present errs on the side of caution, present participle erring on the side of caution, simple past and past participle erred on the side of caution)
  1. (idiomatic) To act in the least risky manner in a situation in which one is uncertain about the consequences. Tags: idiomatic Related terms: abundance of caution, better safe than sorry, err on the side of, give the benefit of the doubt (english: = err on the side of caution when judging someone else's character or motives), on the safe side Translations (to act in the least risky manner): تتوخى الحيطة والحذر (Arabic), تأخذ بأسباب الحيطة والحذر (Arabic), ehtiyatlı olmaq (Azerbaijani), ehtiyatla iş görmək (Azerbaijani), ehtiyatkaranə davranmaq (Azerbaijani), het zekere voor het onzekere nemen (Dutch), olla ottamatta turhia riskejä (Finnish), olla varovainen (Finnish), olla ylivarovainen (Finnish), ta sine forholdsregler (Norwegian Bokmål), prekavere seg [archaic] (Norwegian Bokmål), zachowywać ostrożność [feminine] (Polish), zachować ostrożność [perfective] (Polish), ta det säkra före det osäkra (Swedish)

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "errs on the side of caution",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "erring on the side of caution",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "erred on the side of caution",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "erred on the side of caution",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "err on the side of caution (third-person singular simple present errs on the side of caution, present participle erring on the side of caution, simple past and past participle erred on the side of caution)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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          "name": "Terms with Arabic translations",
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        },
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        },
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
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        },
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          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1867 January 15, “The Impeachment of the President—Probabilities and Possibilities”, in New York Times, page 4:",
          "text": "They are all zealous to the last degree in support of the extreme policy. . . . They certainly will not err on the side of caution.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1976 Oct. 29, James J. Kilpatrick, \"Bureaucracy Infects Drug Industry,\" St. Petersburg Independent/Washington Star Syndicate, p. 23-A (retrieved 1 Oct 2008)",
          "text": "In any uncertain situation, government tends to err on the side of caution and delay."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 September 17, Kara Gammell, “Cash in on the high interest rates”, in The Telegraph, UK, retrieved 2008-10-01:",
          "text": "But many savers are more concerned with the safety of their deposits and are even spreading their money over several institutions to err on the side of caution.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To act in the least risky manner in a situation in which one is uncertain about the consequences."
      ],
      "id": "en-err_on_the_side_of_caution-en-verb-zYxSjeMJ",
      "links": [
        [
          "risky",
          "risky"
        ],
        [
          "uncertain",
          "uncertain"
        ],
        [
          "consequences",
          "consequences"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To act in the least risky manner in a situation in which one is uncertain about the consequences."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "abundance of caution"
        },
        {
          "word": "better safe than sorry"
        },
        {
          "word": "err on the side of"
        },
        {
          "english": "= err on the side of caution when judging someone else's character or motives",
          "word": "give the benefit of the doubt"
        },
        {
          "word": "on the safe side"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
          "word": "تتوخى الحيطة والحذر"
        },
        {
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
          "word": "تأخذ بأسباب الحيطة والحذر"
        },
        {
          "code": "az",
          "lang": "Azerbaijani",
          "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
          "word": "ehtiyatlı olmaq"
        },
        {
          "code": "az",
          "lang": "Azerbaijani",
          "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
          "word": "ehtiyatla iş görmək"
        },
        {
          "code": "az",
          "lang": "Azerbaijani",
          "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
          "word": "ehtiyatkaranə davranmaq"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
          "word": "het zekere voor het onzekere nemen"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
          "word": "olla ottamatta turhia riskejä"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
          "word": "olla varovainen"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
          "word": "olla ylivarovainen"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
          "word": "ta sine forholdsregler"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
          "tags": [
            "archaic"
          ],
          "word": "prekavere seg"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "zachowywać ostrożność"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "zachować ostrożność"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
          "word": "ta det säkra före det osäkra"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-err on the side of caution.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a4/En-au-err_on_the_side_of_caution.ogg/En-au-err_on_the_side_of_caution.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/En-au-err_on_the_side_of_caution.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "err on the side of caution"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "errs on the side of caution",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "erring on the side of caution",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "erred on the side of caution",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "erred on the side of caution",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "err on the side of caution (third-person singular simple present errs on the side of caution, present participle erring on the side of caution, simple past and past participle erred on the side of caution)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "abundance of caution"
    },
    {
      "word": "better safe than sorry"
    },
    {
      "word": "err on the side of"
    },
    {
      "english": "= err on the side of caution when judging someone else's character or motives",
      "word": "give the benefit of the doubt"
    },
    {
      "word": "on the safe side"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
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        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Arabic translations",
        "Terms with Azerbaijani translations",
        "Terms with Dutch translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Swedish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1867 January 15, “The Impeachment of the President—Probabilities and Possibilities”, in New York Times, page 4:",
          "text": "They are all zealous to the last degree in support of the extreme policy. . . . They certainly will not err on the side of caution.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1976 Oct. 29, James J. Kilpatrick, \"Bureaucracy Infects Drug Industry,\" St. Petersburg Independent/Washington Star Syndicate, p. 23-A (retrieved 1 Oct 2008)",
          "text": "In any uncertain situation, government tends to err on the side of caution and delay."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 September 17, Kara Gammell, “Cash in on the high interest rates”, in The Telegraph, UK, retrieved 2008-10-01:",
          "text": "But many savers are more concerned with the safety of their deposits and are even spreading their money over several institutions to err on the side of caution.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To act in the least risky manner in a situation in which one is uncertain about the consequences."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "risky",
          "risky"
        ],
        [
          "uncertain",
          "uncertain"
        ],
        [
          "consequences",
          "consequences"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To act in the least risky manner in a situation in which one is uncertain about the consequences."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-err on the side of caution.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/En-au-err_on_the_side_of_caution.ogg"
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
      "word": "تتوخى الحيطة والحذر"
    },
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
      "word": "تأخذ بأسباب الحيطة والحذر"
    },
    {
      "code": "az",
      "lang": "Azerbaijani",
      "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
      "word": "ehtiyatlı olmaq"
    },
    {
      "code": "az",
      "lang": "Azerbaijani",
      "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
      "word": "ehtiyatla iş görmək"
    },
    {
      "code": "az",
      "lang": "Azerbaijani",
      "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
      "word": "ehtiyatkaranə davranmaq"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
      "word": "het zekere voor het onzekere nemen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
      "word": "olla ottamatta turhia riskejä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
      "word": "olla varovainen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
      "word": "olla ylivarovainen"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
      "word": "ta sine forholdsregler"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ],
      "word": "prekavere seg"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "zachowywać ostrożność"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "zachować ostrożność"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to act in the least risky manner",
      "word": "ta det säkra före det osäkra"
    }
  ],
  "word": "err on the side of caution"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (65a6e81 and 0dbea76). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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