All 3 Uses of
prudent
in
Paradise Lost
- Thus saying, rose
The Monarch, and prevented all reply;
Prudent lest, from his resolution raised,
Others among the chief might offer now,
Certain to be refused, what erst they feared,
And, so refused, might in opinion stand
His rivals, winning cheap the high repute
Which he through hazard huge must earn.†Book 2
- so steers the prudent crane
Her annual voyage, borne on winds;†Book 7 *
- These are the product
Of those ill-mated marriages thou sawest;
Where good with bad were matched, who of themselves
Abhor to join; and, by imprudence mixed,
Produce prodigious births of body or mind.†Book 11imprudence = the quality of lacking good sense and cautionstandard prefix: The prefix "im-" in imprudence means not and reverses the meaning of prudence. This prefix is sometimes used before words beginning with "M" or "P" as seen in words like immoral, immature, and impossible.
Definitions:
-
(1)
(prudent) sensible and careful
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Prudence is also a female name.