Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A warning or caution.
  • noun A qualification or explanation.
  • noun Law A formal notice filed by an interested party requesting postponement of a court proceeding or other action until the filer can be heard.
  • intransitive verb To submit a caveat.
  • intransitive verb Law To make a caveat to (a will, for example).
  • intransitive verb Informal To qualify with a warning or clarification.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In law, a notice filed or noted in a public office to prevent some proceeding being had except after warning to the caveator, or person making the caveat: as, a caveat filed with the probate court against the probate of a will.
  • noun Figuratively, intimation of caution; warning; admonition; hint.
  • To enter a caveat.
  • In fencing, to shift the sword from one side of an adversary's sword to the other.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Law) A notice given by an interested party to some officer not to do a certain act until the party is heard in opposition
  • noun (U. S. Patent Laws) A description of some invention, designed to be patented, lodged in the patent office before the patent right is applied for, and operating as a bar to the issue of letters patent to any other person, respecting the same invention.
  • noun Intimation of caution; warning; protest.
  • noun (Law) let the purchaser beware, i. e., let him examine the article he is buying, and act on his own judgment.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a warning
  • noun a qualification or exception
  • noun law a notice requesting a postponement of a court proceeding
  • noun law a formal notice of interest in land, under a Torrens land-title system
  • verb To qualify a particular statement with a proviso or caveat
  • verb law To lodge a formal notice of interest in land, under a Torrens land-title system
  • verb law, dated To issue a notice requesting that proceedings be suspended
  • verb obsolete To warn or caution against some event

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (law) a formal notice filed with a court or officer to suspend a proceeding until filer is given a hearing
  • noun a warning against certain acts

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin, let him beware, third person sing. present subjunctive of cavēre, to beware.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Latin verb form caveat ("he may beware of"), from caveō ("I beware of").

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Examples

  • The main caveat is making sure you have enough money to return to the states and set up house again as part of a fallback plan.

    Caveats for those moving to Mexico who are too young to retire 2006

  • Never before, for those who wish a healthful, light diet, has the phrase caveat emptor Let the buyer beware! been more appropriate.

    Make It Easy Make It Light Laurie Burrows Grad 1987

  • Never before, for those who wish a healthful, light diet, has the phrase caveat emptor Let the buyer beware! been more appropriate.

    Make It Easy Make It Light Laurie Burrows Grad 1987

  • Never before, for those who wish a healthful, light diet, has the phrase caveat emptor Let the buyer beware! been more appropriate.

    Make It Easy Make It Light Laurie Burrows Grad 1987

  • Never before, for those who wish a healthful, light diet, has the phrase caveat emptor Let the buyer beware! been more appropriate.

    Make It Easy Make It Light Laurie Burrows Grad 1987

  • Never before, for those who wish a healthful, light diet, has the phrase caveat emptor Let the buyer beware! been more appropriate.

    Make It Easy Make It Light Laurie Burrows Grad 1987

  • Researching this, I learned that the Latin word '' caveat '' is a form of a verb and that it translated as

    unknown title 2009

  • Researching this, I learned that the Latin word '' caveat '' is a form of a verb and that it translated as

    unknown title 2009

  • Researching this, I learned that the Latin word '' caveat '' is a form of a verb and that it translated as

    unknown title 2009

  • The one caveat is that his team has yet to beat an ACC team with a winning record.

    Who is the favorite for ACC coach of the year honors? Eric Prisbell 2010

  • Soon after Louisa Strittmater pa ssed away in 1944, her estrangedrelatives—one uncle and two cousins—filed caveats to challenge the willin the Essex County Orphan’s Court.

    “Champion Man-Hater of All Time”: Feminism, Insanity, and Property Rights in 1940s America 2021

Comments

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  • Cf. disclaimer

    September 26, 2010