adjective
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protected or kept under surveillance
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prudent, restrained, or noncommittal
a guarded reply
Other Word Forms
- guardedly adverb
- guardedness noun
- self-guarded adjective
- well-guarded adjective
Etymology
Origin of guarded
Explanation
Someone who's guarded is careful, restrained, and maybe a little bit wary. It's normal for a new rescue dog to be guarded when you first bring her home. People tend to be guarded in certain situations — when they're being criticized, or are at a party where they don't know a single person. Others simply have guarded personalities, always starting from a position of cautiousness. Guarded can also literally mean "protected," like a guarded castle, but you'll more often find it describing a restrained person.
Vocabulary lists containing guarded
"Skins" and "Nicole"
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Careful
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Vocabulary from Readings 6, Unit 1
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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.
For years, Scott has been in poor mental and physical health, closely guarded by his staff at levels akin to those of late-stage Dianne Feinstein.
From Slate • Apr. 25, 2026
Hastings also believed that information about a company’s goals and performance should never be a closely guarded secret but rather should be shared widely with staff.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 18, 2026
Outwardly a barren desert island, Larak has housed a Russian-made satellite communications-jamming system guarded by Iranian naval infantry and fast-attack vessels with antiship missiles, according to Israel-based Alma Research and Education Center.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026
Shelley was a seaman gunner on the destroyer HMS Milne on D-Day and guarded troops going ashore during the Normandy landings in June 1944.
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026
Later, it was the vaccine of the Reverend Hall, fetched from the mainland, that guarded the rest of the Ojibwa who had been exposed and who survived the smallpox of 1847.
From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich
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.
