12 February 2017
circumspect
[sur-kuh m-spekt]
adjective
1. watchful and discreet; cautious; prudent:
circumspect behavior.
2. well-considered:
circumspect ambition.
Origin of circumspect
late Middle English Latin
1375-1425; late Middle English < Latin circumspectus (past participle of circumspicere to look around), equivalent to circum- circum- + spec (ere) to look + -tus past participle suffix
Related forms
circumspectly, adverb
circumspectness, noun
noncircumspect, adjective
noncircumspectly, adverb
noncircumspectness, noun
Synonyms
1. careful, vigilant, guarded.
Antonyms
1. careless, indiscreet.
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for circumspect
Contemporary Examples
Some of the Americans joining ISIS are less than circumspect, especially online.
How Many Americans in ISIS? No One Knows
Eli Lake
September 4, 2014
But his subsequent actions will remain case by case and circumspect.
Israel: No Peace in Sight
Leslie H. Gelb
May 15, 2011
(LOC 1011-1015) One more adjective could be added to Summer’s list: circumspect.
David’s Bookclub: The New New Deal
David Frum
November 30, 2012
The poet remains coolly detached: a circumspect observer in the face of cataclysm.
Catastrophe in Verse
Eliza Griswold
April 20, 2011
Mandela did not want messy personal details in his Long Walk to Freedom, and here his handlers have been just as circumspect.
Nelson Mandela’s Revelatory Diaries
James Zug
October 15, 2010
Historical Examples
Trusting me, the little road dared to turn mad, she who had been so circumspect down below in the valley.
The Joys of Being a Woman
Winifred Kirkland
During your courtship let me entreat you to be very careful and circumspect.
The Ladies Book of Useful Information
Anonymous
After that the generals began to disperse with the solemnity and circumspect silence of people who are leaving, after a funeral.
War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy
But she was dutiful to him, and he was circumspect in his behaviour before her.
Captain Blood
Rafael Sabatini
Why has this bold and circumspect man kept his secret and become his chief adviser?
Shakespearean Tragedy
A. C. Bradley
Anagram
cecum script
Today’s quote
For me, human rights simply endorse a view of life and a set of moral values that are perfectly clear to an eight-year-old child. A child knows what is fair and isn’t fair, and justice derives from that knowledge.
– Tom Stoppard
On this day
12 February 1809 – birth of Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United State of America. Assassinated 15 April 1865.
12 February 1912 – the Last Emperor of China, Hsian-T’ung is forced to abdicate by republicans, ending 2000 years of imperial rule. The Republic of China formed on 1 January 1912, followed by the People’s Republic of China, which formed on 1 October 1949.
12 February 1983 – Legendary 1960’s folk duo, Simon and Garfunkel, play a reunion concert at VFL Park, Melbourne.
12 February 2015 – death of Faith Bandler. Australian civil rights activist. Her father was from Vanuatu. Her mother of Scottish-Indian descent. Campaigned for the rights of indigenous Australians and South Sea Islanders. She was a leader in the 1967 referendum on aboriginal Australians. She was involved with the Aboriginal–Australian Fellowship and the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI). She was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 1984 and Companion of the Order of Australia in 2009. Born 23 September 1918.