PRUDENT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does prudent mean? 

• PRUDENT (adjective)
  The adjective PRUDENT has 1 sense:

1. careful and sensible; marked by sound judgment

  Familiarity information: PRUDENT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRUDENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Careful and sensible; marked by sound judgment

Context example:

more prudent to hide than to fight

Similar:

circumspect; discreet (heedful of potential consequences)

heady; judicious; wise (marked by the exercise of good judgment or common sense in practical matters)

provident (careful in regard to your own interests)

prudential (arising from or characterized by prudence especially in business matters)

Also:

careful (exercising caution or showing care or attention)

provident (providing carefully for the future)

responsible (worthy of or requiring responsibility or trust; or held accountable)

wise (having or prompted by wisdom or discernment)

Antonym:

imprudent (not prudent or wise)

Derivation:

prudence (knowing how to avoid embarrassment or distress)

 Context examples 

It is not so very likely he should be distressed in his circumstances NOW, for he is a very prudent man, and to be sure must have cleared the estate by this time.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Consider Mr. Collins's respectability, and Charlotte's steady, prudent character.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Don't be anxious about me, remember I am your 'prudent Amy', and be sure I will do nothing rashly.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Emma thought it most prudent to go with her.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I am bound to state to you, he said, with an official air, that the business habits, and the prudent suggestions, of Mrs. Micawber, have in a great measure conduced to this result.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He multiplied his questions, and sifted me thoroughly upon every part of this head, proposing numberless inquiries and objections, which I think it not prudent or convenient to repeat.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

“By my troth! I think very well of it,” cried the prudent old commander.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“It remains prudent to use NSAIDs for as short time as possible,” researchers wrote.

(Common Painkillers Linked to Increased Risk for Heart Attack, VOA)

It was more pleasant than prudent.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I will be cool, persevering, and prudent.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)