Showing results for "preserved"

• past tense form of preserve.
• past participle of preserve.

preserved

American  

[pri-zurvd] / prɪˈzɜrvd /

adjective

1. (of food or any perishable substance) prepared by canning, pickling, salting, or the like, or treated by some process to prevent decomposition or fermentation.

   I had never had such fresh-tasting preserved fruit before.

2. kept safe from harm or injury; protected or spared.

   This is a wonderfully preserved example of Mayan cave art.

3. kept up or maintained; kept in good condition or health.

   Tucked in Amsterdam’s inner city is a uniquely preserved 17th-century house from the Dutch Golden Age.

4. kept alive or in existence.

   When I take a portrait photograph, I’m capturing a moment in a life, making it a preserved memory.

5. (of game or fish, natural habitats, etc.) maintained or reserved for continued hunting or fishing, or for private or public use and appreciation.

   New walking trails will be built through the preserved areas of parkland.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of preserve.

Other Word Forms

• semipreserved
  adjective
• unpreserved
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of preserved

First recorded in 1550–60; preserve ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; preserve ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

Explanation

Something that's preserved is kept in its original state or kept alive and fresh. Preserved artifacts are protected from damage, often in a museum where they can be kept safe. Preserved food is treated in some way that makes it spoil much more slowly than it would otherwise. Sometimes this is done by adding chemical preservatives, and other times it's a more natural process, involving drying, pickling, salting, or canning. Preserved fruit, cooked with sugar and sealed in jars, is also called preserves. These words all stem from the Medieval Latin preservare, "keep safe."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

preserved

Historic gardens "must be protected and preserved", said Dillamore.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

The Dendrocrinus simcoensis fossil containing the preserved soft tissue had been housed for years at Montréal's Musée de paléontologie et de l'évolution.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026

The notes, owned and preserved by the family of close associate and freedom fighter Anand T Hingorani, include 688 of Gandhi's handwritten messages on truth, non-violence and self-restraint written between 1944 and 1946.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

As Amini wrote of the glass blade, “the perfection of this form is preserved only with the mental space shared between the conceptualizing artist and the interpreting artist.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

My life was written on paper and preserved on paper—all those bloody scholars scratching their notes and their thoughts and their observations.

From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill

Related Words

• covered
• guaranteed
• guarded
• secured
• sheltered