safeguard
Americannoun
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safeguards
plural
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something that serves as a protection or defense or that ensures safety.
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a permit for safe passage.
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a guard or convoy.
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a mechanical device for ensuring safety.
verb (used with object)
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safeguards,
present (3rd person singular)
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safeguarded,
past participle, past
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safeguarding
present participle
noun
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a person or thing that ensures protection against danger, damage, injury, etc
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a document authorizing safe-conduct
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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safeguardsimple
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safeguardssimple
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have safeguardedperfect
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has safeguardedperfect
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am safeguardingprogressive
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are safeguardingprogressive
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is safeguardingprogressive
-
have been safeguardingperfect progressive
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has been safeguardingperfect progressive
Past
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safeguardedsimple
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had safeguardedperfect
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was safeguardingprogressive
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were safeguardingprogressive
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had been safeguardingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of safeguard
1325–75; Middle English savegarde (noun) safe conduct < Middle French salvegarde, sauvegarde. See safe, guard
Explanation
A safeguard is a defense or precaution. You could describe a flu shot as a safeguard against getting sick, for example. Safeguards protect against something negative, whether it's an attacking army invading a country or a boy you don't like much asking you to the prom. A store's security system is a safeguard against theft, and a secret password is a safeguard against your sister reading your email. You can use it as a verb too: "We clearly need to safeguard our Halloween candy so Mom and Dad don't steal it after we go to bed."
Vocabulary lists containing safeguard
Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)
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Herbert Hoover on "Rugged Individualism" (1928)
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A Single Shard
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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.
See Examples For:
Vysotsky said Ukrainians "understand the sensitivity of certain segments for European farmers" and were open to "substantive discussions about adaptation periods, the scale of market access and safeguard mechanisms".
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
My earlier analysis pointed to the three bulwarks against attempted election subversion—the state and local governments that administer elections, the courts that protect rights, and the American people who are democracy’s ultimate safeguard.
From Slate ● Oct. 5, 2026
Federal regulations require trading venues to meet stringent standards to deter manipulation and abusive trading practices, ensure orderly and transparent trading, prevent conflicts of interest and safeguard customer funds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
In July, it announced a 15-nation maritime alliance to safeguard shipping through the Red Sea, the Bab al Mandab strait and the Gulf of Aden.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
It had become a kind of talisman for me, a safeguard against the terrors of prison.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
But the safeguards "do not diminish the seriousness of an AI system presenting fabricated information as though it came from a person with knowledge of a homicide," the police statement said.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Police said their safeguards had limited the impact, but that these "do not diminish the seriousness of an AI system presenting fabricated information as though it came from a person with knowledge of a homicide."
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
He also issued an executive order to speed up the development of safeguards, including a “kill switch” in case humans lose control of AI.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
"We welcome rigorous independent evaluation, but we do not believe Common Sense Media's testing accurately reflects how ChatGPT's teen safeguards work in practice or expert perspectives on how AI can support teens," he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
My stomach feels like it’s on a roller coaster with no safeguards.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Robert Gunn, station director of Sizewell B, said the deal would ensure hundreds of jobs were safeguarded.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
"Our national heritage and environment must be safeguarded from greed and unnecessary destruction without public participation," he added.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
"The government will ensure that the company as a whole remains viable for the future and that Germany's security of supply is safeguarded," the spokeswoman said.
From Barron's ● May 19, 2026
“We believe mining of metals such as nickel and copper should be safeguarded in Europe through competitive long-term business conditions,” Tom Soderman, general manager of Boliden Kevitsa, said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
There are fossils to be safeguarded, ancient manuscripts; there are pearls, gold nuggets, a sapphire as big as a mouse.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
"I can understand entirely why they did that, but they did not seem to appreciate that uploading and manipulating images of children in this way can carry real privacy and safeguarding risks."
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
Nieuwenhuijsen reached out to Kars, who connected her with the middle-aged Dutch couple who had been safeguarding a sheaf of old Sablonière family letters in bundles of plastic bags—and were Nieuwenhuijsen’s own long-lost cousins.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
"Of course, where there is a credible safeguarding concern, a significant change in behaviour, or a known risk to their wellbeing, parents should act."
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Measures that reduced disturbances generated the largest benefits for forest biodiversity and were nearly as important as preventing outright deforestation when it came to safeguarding carbon stocks.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026
Knowing she was safeguarding his big weakness made him feel better—like he’d fastened his seat belt for a high-speed chase.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
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.
