How to Use watchful in a Sentence

watchful

adjective
  • We need to be more watchful of our children.
  • The hotel is being built under the watchful eye of its architect.
  • My job was to keep a watchful eye on the soup and stir it often.
    — Carolyn Hall, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Mar. 2022
  • Inside, Avett, the Great Dane, was on the sofa with a watchful eye on her.
    — Washington Post, 29 Dec. 2021
  • The teen has grown up largely out of the public and under the watchful eye of Williams, 44.
    — Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 15 Jan. 2025
  • Firefighters stayed on the scene for hours to keep a watchful eye on the house where the fire started.
    — oregonlive, 1 Nov. 2022
  • Adjust the heat to low and keep a watchful eye, to avoid burning the butter.
    — The View, ABC News, 27 Nov. 2024
  • Paul is keeping a watchful eye over all of us with Nolan at this side.
    — Lilly Price, baltimoresun.com, 2 Feb. 2022
  • In the snap, Williams was joined by her 6-year-old daughter Olympia, who kept a watchful eye on her.
    — Escher Walcott, Peoplemag, 8 Oct. 2023
  • From birth, Matthew was mellow yet watchful in the way of a sage elder.
    — M. Boone Mattia, Washington Post, 10 Sep. 2020
  • Woody was in his late 30s, a high school dropout with watchful blue eyes and a rough, mumbly patter.
    — Los Angeles Times, 28 June 2021
  • Return the pizza to the oven for 2-3 minutes, but keep a watchful eye on it.
    — Lacey Vorrasi-Banis, EW.com, 10 Mar. 2021
  • As the cub wandered away, its mother looked on with a watchful eye.
    — Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Jan. 2024
  • But that doesn’t mean James doesn’t keep a caring, watchful eye.
    — Daron James, Los Angeles Times, 14 June 2022
  • Be watchful that those part-of-the-process aches and pains don’t turn into injuries.
    — Luke Humphrey, Outside Online, 21 Sep. 2020
  • In the backyard, dozens of deer congregate in a creepy, watchful herd.
    — Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post, 20 Nov. 2023
  • Somewhere within a few yards the bear stood silent and watchful.
    — Field & Stream, 12 Dec. 2020
  • The world has had a chance to watch Charlotte grow up under the watchful eye of her parents.
    — Katherine J. Igoe, Marie Claire, 26 Jan. 2019
  • With a small team, there is no hiding under the watchful eyes of the three coaches.
    — Emmett Hall, sun-sentinel.com, 13 May 2021
  • Parents must know it’s OK to be the watchful eye over their child’s training.
    — Tim Evans, The Indianapolis Star, 24 July 2021
  • The Wolfords have booked a few events, and Richard Wolford has kept a watchful eye on the garden during the frost.
    — Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 2 Feb. 2022
  • But nearly all the stories portrayed Mr. Carter as the watchful eye.
    — Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 27 July 2023
  • Since then, the country has kept a watchful eye to see if any new cases would pop up.
    — Popular Science, 8 June 2020
  • About 75% of the surgery patients had died from any cause, compared with about 84% of those in the watchful-waiting group.
    — Peter Loftus, WSJ, 12 Dec. 2018
  • Lindor, keeping a watchful eye on the play, re-applied the tag, and this time Ohtani was called out.
    — Dan Freedman, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2024
  • Instead, groups like Cal Falcons have served as a watchful eye over the world’s fastest birds.
    — Chase Hunter, The Mercury News, 28 Feb. 2025
  • The Gentiles made-from-scratch kitchen has been under the watchful eye of Chef Ken Apollo for 23 years.
    — Claire Perez, sun-sentinel.com, 5 Sep. 2019
  • The science team had to focus on what could be done without the watchful eye of a crew, said Sutton.
    — Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Feb. 2022
  • Under the proud but watchful eye of her mum, Blue Ivy will continue to thrive.
    — Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 12 June 2023
  • Golan kept a watchful eye on Brennan the entire journey.
    — Jordan Greene, People.com, 13 Mar. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'watchful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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