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• conservative
  conservative

  adjective

  disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
• Conservative
  Conservative

  adjective

  of, supporting, or relating to a Conservative Party

conservative

American  

[kuhn-sur-vuh-tiv] / kənˈsɜr və tɪv /

adjective

1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.

2. cautiously moderate or purposefully low.

   a conservative estimate.

3. traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness.

   conservative suit.

4. (often initial capital letter) of or relating to the Conservative party.

5. (initial capital letter) of, relating to, or characteristic of Conservative Jews or Conservative Judaism.

6. having the power or tendency to conserve or preserve.

7. Mathematics. (of a vector or vector function) having curl equal to zero; irrotational; lamellar.

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noun

• conservatives
  plural

1. a person who is conservative in principles, actions, habits, etc.

2. a supporter of conservative political policies.

3. (initial capital letter) a member of a conservative political party, especially the Conservative party in Great Britain.

4. a preservative.

conservative ¹ British  

/ kənˈsɜːvətɪv /

adjective

1. favouring the preservation of established customs, values, etc, and opposing innovation

2. of, characteristic of, or relating to conservatism

3. tending to be moderate or cautious

   a conservative estimate

4. conventional in style or type

   a conservative suit

5. med (of treatment) designed to alleviate symptoms Compare radical

6. physics a field of force, system, etc, in which the work done moving a body from one point to another is independent of the path taken between them

   electrostatic fields of force are conservative

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noun

1. a person who is reluctant to change or consider new ideas; conformist

2. a supporter or advocate of conservatism

adjective

1. a less common word for preservative

Conservative ² British  

/ kənˈsɜːvətɪv /

adjective

1. of, supporting, or relating to a Conservative Party

2. of, relating to, or characterizing Conservative Judaism

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noun

1. a supporter or member of a Conservative Party

conservative Cultural  

1. A descriptive term for persons, policies, and beliefs associated with conservatism.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• anticonservativeness
  noun
• conservativeness
  noun
• hyperconservativeness
  noun
• overconservativeness
  noun
• superconservativeness
  noun
• unconservativeness
  noun
• anticonservative
  adjective
• half-conservative
  adjective
• hyperconservative
  adjective
• nonconservative
  adjective
• overconservative
  adjective
• pseudoconservative
  adjective
• quasi-conservative
  adjective
• semiconservative
  adjective
• superconservative
  adjective
• unconservative
  adjective
• anticonservatively
  adverb
• conservatively
  adverb
• half-conservatively
  adverb
• hyperconservatively
  adverb
• overconservatively
  adverb
• pseudoconservatively
  adverb
• quasi-conservatively
  adverb
• semiconservatively
  adverb
• superconservatively
  adverb
• unconservatively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• conservatives
  plural

Etymology

Origin of conservative

First recorded in 1350–1400; from Late Latin conservātīvus, equivalent to Latin conservāt(us) ( see conservation) + -īvus -ive; replacing Middle English conservatif, from Middle French, from Latin, as above

Explanation

If you are conservative, you aren’t necessarily a card-carrying member of the Republican party (though you might be); it means you resist change. Conservative has the word conserve in it, which means "to hold on to, or save." In a drought, you want to be conservative in your water use. If you don’t get paid that much and don’t want to use credit cards, you’d better be conservative with your money. And if you dress in a conservative way, you prefer traditional styles to new trends and fads.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

conservative Conservative conservatives

It’s best to be fully diversified with this strategy, and to align your risk with your age and mentality — getting more conservative as you age.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

Merz has vowed to return the CDU to its conservative roots and launched a crackdown on irregular immigration while trying to reboot a stagnant economy.

From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026

Antonelli was 14th after a relatively conservative first lap, then 12th at the end of lap two, when Charles Leclerc crashed his Ferrari to bring the race to a temporary halt.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026

The discord meant the program spent much of the summer hiring replacement correspondents, including Ross Douthat, a conservative New York Times opinion writer with no experience as a TV journalist.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026

Back home in Africa, my parents would have considered themselves conservative.

From "How Dare the Sun Rise" by Sandra Uwiringiyimana

Sam Rowlands MS, the Conservative shadow minister for education agreed that the gap with England is "stark", and added that this should be a "wake-up call" for the Welsh government.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

Conservative MP Dame Caroline Dinenage, who represents Gosport near Portsmouth, accused the Home Office of failing to provide local officials with details of Sunday's protest.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

In an open letter, Conservative MP Laura Trott called on Education Secretary Lucy Powell to ensure the schools remain open.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

Conservative MP and security policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter recently told Welt TV that the facility is assumed to be a hub for espionage.

From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026

February 12,1994, was the deadline for registration of all parties, and on that day, Inkatha, the Conservative Party, and the Afrikaner Volksfront failed to sign.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

"That's not going to appeal to waverers, or to moderate conservatives who might be thinking about defecting."

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

Some conservatives reviled the magazine, and some radical feminists criticized it as not bold enough.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Protecting religious freedom and practice has been a Paxton priority since he became attorney general in 2015, generating loyal support from grassroots conservatives.

From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026

The chain on Monday announced that Masino would step down as CEO on Aug. 10, following a logo change last year that angered conservatives and loyal customers.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

It was a well-balanced family with its conservatives and its radicals, its dreamers and its realists.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

Related Words

• right of center
• right-wing