Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

careful

 adjective
     
care‧ful S1 W2
1

(be) careful!

spoken used to tell someone to think about what they are doing so that something bad does not happen:
Be careful - the floor's slippery.
2 trying very hard to avoid doing anything wrong or to avoid damaging or losing something [≠ careless]:
a careful driver
careful to do something
Be careful to dispose of your litter properly.
careful with
He was being very careful with the coffee so as not to spill it.
careful who/what/how etc
I'll be more careful what I say in the future.
careful about
Mara was careful about what she ate.
careful (that)
We were very careful that he didn't find out.
3 paying a lot of attention to details, so that something is done correctly and thoroughly:
Any school trip requires careful planning.
careful consideration/attention/thought
Careful consideration has been given to all applications.
careful analysis/examination/study etc
careful analysis of the data
4

careful with money

not spending more money than you need to
5

you can't be too careful

spoken used to say that you should do everything you can to avoid problems or danger
—carefulness noun [uncountable]
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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