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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

The 20th century text is updated with notes on cyberbullying, viral videos , school shootings, conspiracy thinking, conservative populism, book banning and even beer pong.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

Jefferies estimates a total addressable market for this illness in the U.S. of $900 million-$1.6 billion annually, adding that is a conservative assessment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

Tim Schwarz, the CEO of the conservative Roman Catholic-oriented Ave Maria mutual funds, agrees this could be a problem.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

For at bottom, the case pits criminal defendants against an administrative agency at a time when many of the conservative justices have been inclined to vote for neither.

From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026

“A more conservative association was wanted. And now if we divide and Mrs. Stanton shall be deposed from the presidency you virtually degrade her.”

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

The hopefuls in the race to be the Conservative mayoral candidate will have to wait until November to find out if they've made the final shortlist.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

The proposed removal of wartime leader Churchill angered Reform leader Nigel Farage, and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch describing the move as "a silly thing to do".

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch described Archer's death as "devastating news".

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

He got his chance in 1985, when Margaret Thatcher, impressed by his drive and personality, gave him an unpaid job as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for fundraising.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

The Conservative synagogue moved out of Levittown north of Route 1.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

Libertarians, social conservatives, progressives, socialists and others could all make a pitch for whatever rights they favored.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

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

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

Parton was a virtuoso at staying, if not apolitical, at least a neutral zone of relatability for conservatives and leftists alike, each of whom had ways to read their lives into her storytelling.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 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

Then he gazed at the people gathered around him: liberals and conservatives, blacks and whites, men and women, middle-class and poor.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

Related Words

• right of center
• right-wing