preserve
Americanverb (used with object)
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to keep alive or in existence; make lasting.
to preserve our liberties as free citizens.
- Synonyms:
- conserve
- Antonyms:
- destroy
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to keep safe from harm or injury; protect or spare.
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to keep up; maintain.
to preserve historical monuments.
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to keep possession of; retain.
to preserve one's composure.
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to prepare (food or any perishable substance) so as to resist decomposition or fermentation.
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to prepare (fruit, vegetables, etc.) by cooking with sugar, pickling, canning, or the like.
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to maintain and reserve (game, fish, etc.) for continued survival or for private use, as in hunting or fishing.
verb (used without object)
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to preserve fruit, vegetables, etc.; make preserves.
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to maintain a preserve for game or fish, especially for sport.
noun
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something that preserves.
-
that which is preserved.
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Usually preserves. fruit, vegetables, etc., prepared by cooking with sugar.
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a place set apart for protection and propagation of game or fish, especially for sport.
verb
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to keep safe from danger or harm; protect
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to protect from decay or dissolution; maintain
to preserve old buildings
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to maintain possession of; keep up
to preserve a façade of indifference
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to prevent from decomposition or chemical change
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to prepare (food), as by freezing, drying, or salting, so that it will resist decomposition
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to make preserves of (fruit, etc)
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to rear and protect (game) in restricted places for hunting or fishing
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(intr) to maintain protection and favourable conditions for game in preserves
noun
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something that preserves or is preserved
-
a special area or domain
archaeology is the preserve of specialists
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(usually plural) fruit, etc, prepared by cooking with sugar
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areas where game is reared for private hunting or fishing
Synonym Usage
See defend.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of preserve
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English preserven, from Medieval Latin praeservāre “to guard” ( Late Latin: “to observe”), equivalent to Latin prae- prefix meaning “before, prior to, in advance” ( see pre-) + servāre “to watch over, keep, preserve, observe”
Explanation
When you preserve something, you maintain its condition, like trying to preserve your good health by exercising regularly and eating right. The verb preserve describes keeping something as it is now, without a decline in quality. It can also refer to keeping something safe from harm, as in “The group worked hard to preserve the regional ecosystem.” When you preserve food, such as fruit, you keep it from rotting. Jellies and jams are preserves, the noun form. A preserve can also be lands set aside, or preserved, as animal habitats.
Vocabulary lists containing preserve
The Bill of Rights
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"The Landlady" by Roald Dahl
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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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.
“But I’d never seen anyone that looked or sounded like my grandfather in it. I realized that it could be a really creative method to preserve his voice and his story. “
From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026
Other such eastern refuges were established, and it looked for a time as if the problem of how to preserve America’s most despised animal had been found.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
An impending heatwave has threatened to stow away — or rather, further preserve — countless tins of anchovies.
From Salon • May 28, 2026
The herbivorous marsupial can also reabsorb water from the colon and produce more concentrated urine to preserve hydration, or allow its body temperature to fluctuate with the environment in a process known as heterothermy.
From Barron's • May 26, 2026
Racial segregation had actually begun years earlier in the North, as an effort to prevent race-mixing and preserve racial hierarchy following the abolition of Northern slavery.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
