prudential

From Latin prudentia +‎ -al.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹuːˈdɛnʃ(ə)l/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

prudential (comparative more prudential, superlative most prudential)

1. Characterised by the use of prudence; arising from careful thought or deliberation. [from 15th c.]
   • 1820, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or 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

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.