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prudence

noun
/ˈpɹuːd(ə)n(t)s/UK/ˈpɹud(ə)n(t)s/US

Etymology

From Middle English prudence (“discretion; foresight; knowledge; intelligence, wisdom; act of good judgment; wisdom to see what is virtuous”), from Anglo-Norman prudence, Middle French prudence, and Old French prudence (“common sense; wisdom”) (modern French prudence), and from their etymon Latin prūdentia (“common sense; discretion, prudence; foresight; knowledge; providence; skilfulness; wisdom”), from prūdent- (the stem of prūdēns (“knowledgeable, skilful; wise, prudent”)) + -ia (suffix forming first-declension feminine abstract nouns). Prūdēns is a contraction of prōvidēns (“caring for; foreseeing; providing”) (whence prōvidentia (“foreknowledge, foresight; forethought, precaution, providence”)), the present active participle of prōvideō (“to care for, look after; to foresee; to provide, see to”), from prō- (prefix meaning ‘forward; prior’) + videō (“to perceive, see; to comprehend, understand; to look out for, care for”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see; to know”)). Doublet of provide and purvey.

  1. derived from *weyd-✻ — “to see; to know”
  2. derived from prūdentia — “common sense; discretion, prudence; foresight; knowledge; providence; skilfulness; wisdom”
  3. derived from prudence — “common sense; wisdom”
  4. derived from prudence
  5. derived from prudence
  6. inherited from prudence — “discretion; foresight; knowledge; intelligence, wisdom; act of good judgment; wisdom to see what is virtuous”

Definitions

  1. The quality or state of being prudent

    The quality or state of being prudent: circumspection and good judgment in knowing how best to act; (countable, archaic) an instance of this.

    • Prudence, like experience, must be paid for.

  2. Synonym of frugality (“the quality of avoiding unnecessary expenditure

    Synonym of frugality (“the quality of avoiding unnecessary expenditure; economy, parsimony, thrift, thriftiness”).

  3. Synonym of providence (“preparation for the future

    Synonym of providence (“preparation for the future; foresight”).

    • For 'tis my ſetled Opinion, that Divine Prudence is often, at leaſt, converſant in a peculiar manner about the Actions of Men, and the things that happen to Them, or have a neceſſary Connexion vvith the One, or the Other, or Both.
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. Synonym of wisdom (“an element of personal character that enables one to distinguish the…

      Synonym of wisdom (“an element of personal character that enables one to distinguish the wise from the unwise; wise advice”).

      • Children here ye the fathers diſcipline, and attend that you may knovve prudence.
      • [H]e [Pythagoras] vvent from Ægypt to the Perſians, (not to Perſia, as ſome conceive) and reſigned himſelf to the moſt exact prudence of the Magi, to be formed.

    2. A female given name from English, one of the Puritan virtue names.

The neighborhood

Derived

macroprudence, microprudence, unprudence

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at prudence. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01prudence02knowing03wilful04deliberate05facts06agreement07parties08partie09party10policy

A definitional loop anchored at prudence. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at prudence

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA