care Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the work of providing treatment for or attending to someone or something
    aid; tending; attention.
    • no medical care was required
    • the old car needs constant attention
  2. noun judiciousness in avoiding harm or danger
    precaution; caution; forethought.
    • he exercised caution in opening the door
    • he handled the vase with care
  3. noun an anxious feeling
    fear; concern.
    • care had aged him
    • they hushed it up out of fear of public reaction
  4. noun a cause for feeling concern
    • his major care was the illness of his wife
  5. noun attention and management implying responsibility for safety
    charge; guardianship; tutelage.
    • he is in the care of a bodyguard
  6. noun activity involved in maintaining something in good working order
    upkeep; maintenance.
    • he wrote the manual on car care
  7. verb feel concern or interest
    • I really care about my work
    • I don't care
  8. verb provide care for
    give care.
    • The nurse was caring for the wounded
  9. verb prefer or wish to do something
    wish; like.
    • Do you care to try this dish?
    • Would you like to come along to the movies?
  10. verb be in charge of, act on, or dispose of
    manage; handle; deal.
    • I can deal with this crew of workers
    • This blender can't handle nuts
    • She managed her parents' affairs after they got too old
  11. verb be concerned with
    worry.
    • I worry about my grades

WordNet

Care noun
Etymology
AS. caru, cearu; akin to OS. kara sorrow Goth. kara lament, and to Gr. voice. Not akin to cure. Cf. Chary.
Definitions
  1. A burdensome sense of responsibility; trouble caused by onerous duties; anxiety; concern; solicitude.
    Care keeps his wath in every old man's eye, And where care lodges, sleep will never lie. Shak.
  2. Charge, oversight, or management, implying responsibility for safety and prosperity.
    The care of all the churches. 2 Car. xi. 28
    Him thy care must be to find. Milton.
    Perlexed with a thousand cares. Shak.
  3. Attention or heed; caution; regard; heedfulness; watchfulness; as, take care; have a care.
    I thank thee for thy care and honest pains. Shak.
  4. The object of watchful attention or anxiety.
    Right sorrowfully mourning her bereaved cares. Spenser.
    Syn. -- Anxiety; solicitude; concern; caution; regard; management; direction; oversight. -- Care, Anxiety, Solicitude, Concern. These words express mental pain in different degress. Care belongs primarily to the intellect, and becomes painful from overburdened thought. Anxiety denotes a state of distressing uneasiness fron the dread of evil. Solicitude expresses the same feeling in a diminished dagree. Concern is opposed to indifference, and implies exercise of anxious thought more or less intense. We are careful about the means, solicitous and anxious about the end; we are solicitous to obtain a good, axious to avoid an evil.
Care intransitive verb
Etymology
AS. cearian. See Care, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Cared ; present participle & verbal noun Caring
Definitions
  1. To be anxious or solictous; to be concerned; to have regard or interest; -- sometimes followed by an objective of measure.
    I would not care a pin, if the other three were in. Shak.
    Master, carest thou not that we perish? Mark. iv. 38.
    He cared not for the affection of the house. Tennyson.

Webster 1913