prudential

English

Etymology

From Latin prudentia +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹuːˈdɛn.ʃəl/, [pɹuːˈdɛn.ʃl̩]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /pɹuˈdɛn.ʃəl/, [pɹuˈdɛn.ʃl̩]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /pɹʉːˈden.ʃəl/, [pɹʉːˈden.ʃl̩]

Adjective

prudential (comparative more prudential, superlative most prudential)

1. Characterised by the use of prudence; arising from careful thought or deliberation. [from 15th c.]
   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:

     a prudential line of conduct

   • 2012, Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex, Penguin, published 2013, page 206:

     Matrimony had always been a matter of prudential calculation.

2. Of a person: exercising prudence; cautious. [from 17th c.]
3. Advisory; superintending or executive.

   a prudential committee

Noun

prudential (plural prudentials)

1. (archaic, chiefly in the plural) A matter requiring prudence.
   • 1853, George Godfrey Cunningham, A History of England in the Lives of Englishmen, volume 2, page 426:

     I believe few men knew more of the art of policy and self-interested prudentials, but never man so little practised them.