cautions

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of caution.

   The pilot reviewed all the weather cautions before takeoff.

   The driver received two cautions from the steward during the race.

   Note

   The plural belongs to the countable uses of caution, not to the quality. Prudence itself rarely takes an -s. What multiplies are discrete things: formal warnings given instead of prosecution, yellow cards shown to players, or, in a dated usage, people whose behavior astonishes (a pair of real cautions). The same spelling serves as the verb's present form. The noun usually follows a determiner (two cautions), while the verb takes an object.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of caution.

   The label cautions buyers against using the product near open flames.

   Every report cautions investors that past performance guarantees nothing.

   Note

   A transitive form that normally takes the person being warned as its object. It is then followed either by against with a noun or -ing form, or by a that-clause. On the field it narrows sharply: a referee who cautions a player is showing a yellow card. In that sports use the verb matches the noun's own sporting sense.

   The referee cautions the defender for a late tackle.

   She cautions her students against trusting a single source.

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