Washington really extremely cautious (4)
I believe the answer is:
wary
'cautious' is the definition.
('wary' can be similar in meaning to 'cautious')
'washington really extremely' is the wordplay.
'washington' becomes 'wa'.
'extremely' suggests removing the centre.
'really' with its centre taken out is 'ry'.
'wa'+'ry'='WARY'
(Other definitions for wary that I've seen before include "James Bond villain" , "Circumspect" , "Cautious - vigilant" , "Guarded" , "Displaying caution" .)