Prudence
['pruːd(ə)ns] or ['prʊdns]
Definition
(n.) The quality or state of being prudent; wisdom in the way of caution and provision; discretion; carefulness; hence, also, economy; frugality.
Edited by Glenn
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Discretion (accompanied with forecast), caution, carefulness, circumspection, considerateness, common sense, judiciousness, judgment, wisdom (applied to the ordinary affairs of life), sense, tact, GUMPTION, ballast.
Inputed by Augustine
Unserious Contents or Definition
A quality of mind that restrains the wise boarder from trying to find out how his landlady makes her hash.
Typed by Jaime
Examples
- Few people of common prudence will do THAT; and whatever she saves, she will be able to dispose of. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- What is prudence in the conduct of every private family, can scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Prudence was never a cardinal virtue of the Kentucky boy. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Prudence recommended henceforward a swift clearance of my person from the place, the moment that guilty old book was brought out. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Caution, thought, restraint, prudence, are all swept away by the torrent. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- I believe I have been wrong in saying so much, but I hardly know what to do, and on your prudence I have the strongest dependence. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- Miss Ophelia in her own heart said, I hope she isn't, but had prudence enough to keep it down. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Madam, it is a question of common sense and common prudence, not of sympathy and sentiment, and so on. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The prudence of this line of action, indeed, was obvious; but, unfortunately, there was one very strong objection to its being adopted. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- His best, if not his only reason, for adhering to the party of Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Athelstane had the prudence to keep to himself. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- For six pounds a year you may have the use of one hundred pounds, provided you are a man of known prudence and honesty. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- I answered, that his excellency's prudence, quality, and fortune, had exempted him from those defects, which folly and beggary had produced in others. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- These were questions of prudence; there was no immediate necessity for an earnest caution. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- This sociability seemed a necessary part of professional prudence, and the entertainment must be suitable. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Not with care and prudence and good help, said my guardian. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
Editor: Rena