Caveat

How to spell caveat

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce caveat

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does caveat mean?

1. nounA warning or qualifying condition that limits or restricts a statement, agreement, or claim.

Caveat in a sentence

• The manager approved the budget with one important caveat about overtime costs.

• The contract included a caveat stating that delivery dates could change without penalty.

Where does caveat come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is borrowed directly, and unchanged, from Latin, where caveat literally means 'let him beware'. It is the third-person singular present subjunctive of the verb cavere, meaning 'to be on guard, to take care, to beware'. English adopted it in the 1500s as a technical legal term: a formal notice entered with a court asking that no action be taken until the party giving notice has been heard. From that courtroom use it broadened into the everyday meaning of a warning or a qualifying condition attached to a statement. The same cavere root sits behind the famous phrase caveat emptor, 'let the buyer beware', and behind the more distant relative 'caution'. Because the word arrived whole from Latin rather than being reshaped in English, the spelling keeps its bare Latin form: c-a-v-e-a-t, with that easily missed e-a-t cluster at the end.

How the word is built

• cave- (from Latin cavere: to beware)
• -at (third-person subjunctive ending: 'let him beware')