saving
Americanadjective
-
tending or serving to save; rescuing; preserving.
-
compensating; redeeming.
a saving sense of humor.
- Synonyms:
- redemptory
-
thrifty; economical.
a saving housekeeper.
-
making a reservation.
a saving clause.
noun
preposition
-
except.
Nothing remains saving these ruins.
-
with all due respect to or for.
saving your presence.
conjunction
adjective
-
tending to save or preserve
-
redeeming or compensating (esp in the phrase saving grace )
-
thrifty or economical
-
law denoting or relating to an exception or reservation
a saving clause in an agreement
noun
-
preservation or redemption, esp from loss or danger
-
economy or avoidance of waste
-
reduction in cost or expenditure
a saving of 100 dollars
-
anything saved
-
(plural) money saved for future use
-
law an exception or reservation
preposition
conjunction
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of saving
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at save 1, -ing 2, -ing 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The government removed green levies from bills in April, transferring the cost to general taxation instead, and saving an average of £150 a year off bills.
From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026
Meanwhile, the United States Senate, in 2022, unanimously passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent.
From Slate • Jun. 6, 2026
June 1: The decline in the saving rate has received much attention, but on net, I don’t assume a bad outcome simply because the saving rate is historically low.
From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026
Since 2022, the “big saving grace if you lost your job has been you could go across the street and find a new one,” Song said.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 5, 2026
But all his focus was on how important the map was in saving Zheng’s life.
From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.