Cautionary
adjective
Serves as a warning or deterrent.
They tell cautionary tales to children to teach them about dangers.
Often appears as...
- cautionary tale
- cautionary note
adjective
Given as a precaution or warning.
This is just a cautionary measure to ensure everyone's safety.
Often appears as...
- cautionary measure
- cautionary step
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
adjective
Serves as a warning or deterrent.
They tell cautionary tales to children to teach them about dangers.
Often appears as...
- cautionary tale
- cautionary note
adjective
Given as a precaution or warning.
This is just a cautionary measure to ensure everyone's safety.
Often appears as...
- cautionary measure
- cautionary step
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Storytelling Tool
Used in stories to teach lessons about avoiding danger or making better choices.
The old fable of the ant and the grasshopper is a cautionary tale about the virtues of hard work.
Pro Tip 2/3Metaphorical Use
Often used metaphorically to describe situations or outcomes one should try to avoid.
The collapsed company served as a cautionary example for startups relying on one client.
Pro Tip 3/3Reflects Concern
Highlights speaker's concern and desire to prevent negative situations.
His words held a cautionary note, warning others about the risks involved.
Compare with
admonitoryadvisorycarefulcircumspectprecautionarypreventvigilantwarn
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Video examples
How to recognize a...
So why bother with all this pessimism? Because at their heart, dystopias are cautionary tales, not about some particular government or technology, but the very idea that humanity can be molded into an ideal shape. Think back to the perfect world you imagined. Did you also imagine what it would take to achieve?
Video examples
Sufferfest: 700 Miles of...
- Yeah. - And then eventually somehow, someway we finished and then started the solar portion of it. And, it was a really cool way to finish the trip, I thought. I guess, like, you know, if I was gonna, like, leave you guys with, like, any lessons or perhaps cautionary tales from our experience,
Video examples
How we'll earn money in...
it's almost just like a feeling about which move they should make. So given those two qualities, I would say that playing Go at a world champion level really ought to be something that's safe from automation, and the fact that it isn't should really raise a cautionary flag for us.
Video examples
Bran Ferren: To create...
and just as my grandpa did when he took me shopping for surplus, and just as my parents did when they took me to science museums, we need to encourage them to find their own path, even if it's very different from our own. But a cautionary We also need to periodically pry them away
Video examples
What really happened...
caused by fungus; or a condition that caused swelling of the brain. But ultimately, the reason for their behavior is unknown. What we do know is that adults accepted wild accusations by children as hard evidence. Today, the Salem Witch Trials remain a cautionary tale
Video examples
Everything you need to...
and "Frankenstein" is one of the first cautionary tales about artificial intelligence. For Shelley, the terror was not supernatural, but born in a lab. In addition, gothic devices infuse the text. The gothic genre is characterized by unease,
Video examples
How Ethics Can Help You...
I've been a television comedy writer for almost 25 years. I have written sketches and animated shows and sitcoms, but for the last decade, my real passion has been the study of ethics. It's a classic cautionary tale, right?
Video examples
Liam Young: Planet City...
They can help us to dramatize data. So in speculative cities, we can immerse ourselves in the various consequences of the decisions we face today. They can be both cautionary tales or road maps to an aspirational future.
Video examples
Why bother leaving the...
rather than to watch and to wonder, that's where the real meat of life is to be found, the juice that we can suck out of our hours and days. And I would add a cautionary note here, however.
Video examples
Mammoths resurrected and...
Hubris is a really important cautionary tale to always have at hand. One of the guidelines I've kept for myself every day I ask myself how many things I am dead wrong about.
Video examples
How to recognize a...
So why bother with all this pessimism? Because at their heart, dystopias are cautionary tales, not about some particular government or technology, but the very idea that humanity can be molded into an ideal shape. Think back to the perfect world you imagined. Did you also imagine what it would take to achieve?
Video examples
Sufferfest: 700 Miles of...
- Yeah. - And then eventually somehow, someway we finished and then started the solar portion of it. And, it was a really cool way to finish the trip, I thought. I guess, like, you know, if I was gonna, like, leave you guys with, like, any lessons or perhaps cautionary tales from our experience,
Video examples
How we'll earn money in...
it's almost just like a feeling about which move they should make. So given those two qualities, I would say that playing Go at a world champion level really ought to be something that's safe from automation, and the fact that it isn't should really raise a cautionary flag for us.
Video examples
Bran Ferren: To create...
and just as my grandpa did when he took me shopping for surplus, and just as my parents did when they took me to science museums, we need to encourage them to find their own path, even if it's very different from our own. But a cautionary We also need to periodically pry them away
Video examples
What really happened...
caused by fungus; or a condition that caused swelling of the brain. But ultimately, the reason for their behavior is unknown. What we do know is that adults accepted wild accusations by children as hard evidence. Today, the Salem Witch Trials remain a cautionary tale
Video examples
Everything you need to...
and "Frankenstein" is one of the first cautionary tales about artificial intelligence. For Shelley, the terror was not supernatural, but born in a lab. In addition, gothic devices infuse the text. The gothic genre is characterized by unease,
Video examples
How Ethics Can Help You...
I've been a television comedy writer for almost 25 years. I have written sketches and animated shows and sitcoms, but for the last decade, my real passion has been the study of ethics. It's a classic cautionary tale, right?
Video examples
Liam Young: Planet City...
They can help us to dramatize data. So in speculative cities, we can immerse ourselves in the various consequences of the decisions we face today. They can be both cautionary tales or road maps to an aspirational future.
Video examples
Why bother leaving the...
rather than to watch and to wonder, that's where the real meat of life is to be found, the juice that we can suck out of our hours and days. And I would add a cautionary note here, however.
Video examples
Mammoths resurrected and...
Hubris is a really important cautionary tale to always have at hand. One of the guidelines I've kept for myself every day I ask myself how many things I am dead wrong about.
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Frank McCourt
Irish Author
Sure, I went through my 'J'accuse' phase. I was so angry for so long, I could hardly have a conversation without getting into an argument. And it was only when I felt I could finally distance myself from my past that I began to write about what happened - not just to me, but to lots of young people. I think my story is a cautionary tale.
Quote examples
Robert Jordan
American Writer
I'm not certain that I draw from any one culture more than others. Many myths and legends of many different cultures are really the same story when you get to the heart of it. They are often cultural cautionary tales about how we should behave and how we should live.
Quote examples
Joel Coen
American Director
It's a funny thing because you look at the careers of other filmmakers, and you see them sort of slow down, and you realize, maybe this becomes harder to do as you get older. That's sort of a cautionary thing. I hope it doesn't happen to me.
Quote examples
Octavia E. Butler
American Writer
While Fledging is a different type of book, The Parable series serve as cautionary tales. I wrote the Parable books because of the direction of the country. You can call it save the world fiction, but it clearly doesn't save anything.
Quote examples
Lee Unkrich
American Director
If you look at the beginning of children's entertainment in literature, the first books that were written for kids were cautionary tales. They were books that were there to teach kids about growing up and how to live life.
Quote examples
Jordan Peele
American Actor
I find campfire stories and urban legends are kind of the bread and butter that inspires a lot of people who are making horror and thriller. There is a nugget of truth behind these sort of cautionary tales.
Quote examples
Mark Ruffalo
American Actor
It's a difficult undertaking. I've been married for four years and I see this movie as a cautionary tale about people who've gone deeply out of communication.
Quote examples
Oliver Luck
There's no dancing on the grave of the AAF. We watched them, we're going to take lessons from them. To a certain degree, it's a cautionary tale.
Quote examples
Kate Forsyth
Australian Author
Fairytales were never really meant for children; they were meant as cautionary tales for teenagers on the verge of growing up.
Quote examples
Alfonso Cuaron
Mexican Director
Cautionary tales were fantastic in the '70s.
Quote examples
Frank McCourt
Irish Author
Sure, I went through my 'J'accuse' phase. I was so angry for so long, I could hardly have a conversation without getting into an argument. And it was only when I felt I could finally distance myself from my past that I began to write about what happened - not just to me, but to lots of young people. I think my story is a cautionary tale.
Quote examples
Robert Jordan
American Writer
I'm not certain that I draw from any one culture more than others. Many myths and legends of many different cultures are really the same story when you get to the heart of it. They are often cultural cautionary tales about how we should behave and how we should live.
Quote examples
Joel Coen
American Director
It's a funny thing because you look at the careers of other filmmakers, and you see them sort of slow down, and you realize, maybe this becomes harder to do as you get older. That's sort of a cautionary thing. I hope it doesn't happen to me.
Quote examples
Octavia E. Butler
American Writer
While Fledging is a different type of book, The Parable series serve as cautionary tales. I wrote the Parable books because of the direction of the country. You can call it save the world fiction, but it clearly doesn't save anything.
Quote examples
Lee Unkrich
American Director
If you look at the beginning of children's entertainment in literature, the first books that were written for kids were cautionary tales. They were books that were there to teach kids about growing up and how to live life.
Quote examples
Jordan Peele
American Actor
I find campfire stories and urban legends are kind of the bread and butter that inspires a lot of people who are making horror and thriller. There is a nugget of truth behind these sort of cautionary tales.
Quote examples
Mark Ruffalo
American Actor
It's a difficult undertaking. I've been married for four years and I see this movie as a cautionary tale about people who've gone deeply out of communication.
Quote examples
Oliver Luck
There's no dancing on the grave of the AAF. We watched them, we're going to take lessons from them. To a certain degree, it's a cautionary tale.
Quote examples
Kate Forsyth
Australian Author
Fairytales were never really meant for children; they were meant as cautionary tales for teenagers on the verge of growing up.
Quote examples
Alfonso Cuaron
Mexican Director
Cautionary tales were fantastic in the '70s.
Example 1 of 10
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