Jump To:

• 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.

---

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

---

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

---

noun

1. a supporter or member of a Conservative Party

conservative Cultural  

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

---

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 show, hosted by Erin Scavino—who is now the wife of the president’s deputy chief of staff, Dan Scavino—was canceled just months after launching on the conservative network Real America’s Voice.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

"It will be a combination of economic isolation, like the world has never seen before," Bessent told conservative television network Newsmax.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

The British-born conservative strategist and political commentator raises chickens at his Silicon Valley home and has said he named one of them “Xavier.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

A California native and member of a conservative Christian family, Harp followed an unorthodox path into an already unconventional White House.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

But he seemed too conservative, and he was thirty-four to her twenty-one—well beyond the age she had imagined for a husband.

From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers

"All the girls in my office, we all kind of went, 'blimey, what was that?'," said Belton, a Conservative councillor in neighbouring Rochford.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Issues in the heart and lung transplantation service were first outlined in 2024 in a report by international experts, commissioned by the Conservative government.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

A third Conservative leader, Rishi Sunak, was in Count Binface's sights in the 2024 general election campaign.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

Born in London to parents who fled conflict in their native Hungary, Hilton began a career in politics with Britain’s Conservative Party after graduating from Oxford University.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

A second draft interim constitution in August gave greater powers to the regions, but this did not placate either Chief Buthelezi or the Conservative Party.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

In a 2025 survey of young likely voters, 42% of conservatives said they would like to see a democratic socialist win the presidency in 2028.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Efforts to unfreeze the market before its natural thaw are where conservatives and progressives are finding common ground.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026

But for liberals and conservatives alike, there were other aims, too, including a high school and maybe even college degree, and a stable job to follow it.

From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026

Since Scalia’s death, his influence has grown especially with the younger generation of conservatives.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026

“Here we see both liberals and conservatives endorsing the same meta-narrative of American individualism: When individuals get ahead, the group triumphs. When individuals succeed, American democracy prevails.”

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

Related Words

• right of center
• right-wing