CAUTIOUSLY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does cautiously mean? 

• CAUTIOUSLY (adverb)
  The adverb CAUTIOUSLY has 2 senses:

1. as if with kid gloves; with caution or prudence or tact

2. in a conservative manner

  Familiarity information: CAUTIOUSLY used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CAUTIOUSLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

As if with kid gloves; with caution or prudence or tact

Synonyms:

carefully; cautiously

Context example:

they handled the incident with kid gloves

Antonym:

incautiously (without caution or prudence)

Pertainym:

cautious (showing careful forethought)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In a conservative manner

Synonyms:

cautiously; conservatively; guardedly

Context example:

we estimated the number of demonstrators conservatively at 200,000.

 Context examples 

One wolf, long and lean and gray, advanced cautiously, in a friendly manner, and Buck recognized the wild brother with whom he had run for a night and a day.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He did not come at once into the library, so I went cautiously to my own room and found him making the bed.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Then he and Judge Scott, revolvers in hand, cautiously descended.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The first splendid velvet edge of youth and condition wore off, and they fought more cautiously and deliberately.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I knew that someone had entered the house cautiously from without.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Cautiously descending, I found the cabin deserted.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was the tread of some animal—the rhythm of soft but heavy pads placed cautiously upon the ground.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“If Miss Bertram were not engaged,” said Fanny cautiously, “I could sometimes almost think that he admired her more than Julia.”

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

A few minutes later he was disturbed by a gentle creaking of his own door, as though some one were pushing cautiously against it, and immediately afterwards he heard the soft thud of cautious footsteps upon the stair which led to the room above, followed by a confused noise and a muffled groan.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He had caught both substance and shadow—both fortune and affection, and was just the happy man he ought to be; talking only of himself and his own concerns—expecting to be congratulated—ready to be laughed at—and, with cordial, fearless smiles, now addressing all the young ladies of the place, to whom, a few weeks ago, he would have been more cautiously gallant.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)