Definition of "prudent" []

• Wise in handling practical matters; exercising good judgment or common sense. (adjective)
• Careful in regard to one's own interests; provident. (adjective)
• Careful about one's conduct; circumspect. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""The word prudent will have a very elastic meaning in 2012," said Stephen Green, a Hong Kong-based economist with Standard Chartered Plc."
• "The term prudent "means whatever the appropriate officials want it to mean," Straszheim said, adding that China may aim to contract the money supply and restrict new lending in order to cool the economy."
• "The third and continuing wave is what I call prudent walkaways -- people who can afford the payments for a while longer, by exhausting their 401Ks, childrens' college funds and other savings -- but are now choosing to default before they are financially ruined."