MEANING
To act without your usual concern for risks or possible negative consequences.
Use it for
describing a sudden abandonment of caution; showing impulsive risk-taking; contrasting restraint with bold action; portraying a decision made without weighing dangersShows a deliberate release of restraint about possible negative consequences. Writing functions: Risk-taking.
Words that belong together
- throw caution to the wind and act
On the page
For once, she threw caution to the wind and entered the competition under her own name.
The investors threw caution to the wind despite the unresolved safety concerns.
Word forms
- Base
- throw caution to the wind
Usage notes
Verbal idiom: throw/throws/threw/thrown/throwing caution to the wind. Winds is an established alternative, not another entry. Register: neutral. Commonness: common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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