Avised

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Done with careful thought and caution ; archaically describing a person who is watchful and alert to what is happening
2. Marked by deliberate consideration and prudence ; an old term for being mindful and perceptive of surroundings
3. Characterized by careful reflection before acting ; a former word for someone who has noticed and taken account of things

Etymology: "Avised" is the past form of "avise", a verb meaning to consider, reflect or take counsel with oneself. Its history runs through Middle English and Old French, where a word built on "vis", meaning sight or face, once described looking carefully at something. The sense of an inward weighing of options, familiar from "advised" in its older sense of "deliberate", grew out of that original act of looking. In English, "avised" survives mainly in the older phrase "well avised", meaning prudent or considerate, and it shows the same root that gives "advise" and "visage". The word, in other words, began as a matter of seeing and ended as a matter of thinking things over before acting.