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
-
had safeguardedperfect
-
was safeguardingprogressive
-
were safeguardingprogressive
-
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:
In conversations with executives both in the room and in debriefings afterward, Sonnenfeld said business leaders told him they wanted more discussions on ways to safeguard against AI and its possibilities for harm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
The theft-prone models lack a critical safeguard called an engine immobilizer pioneered in the mid-1980s, when more than 60,000 cars a year were stolen in Los Angeles alone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
"Commerzbank has over 40,000 employees and we naturally want to safeguard their interests," he told a press conference.
From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026
The first duty of a government, countless leaders over the decades have said, is to safeguard its population.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
But we have a reasonable doubt, and this is a safeguard that has enormous value in our system.
From "Twelve Angry Men" by Reginald Rose
OpenAI said in a blog post on Wednesday that it would “aim to disclose examples that provide useful evidence about how model misalignment arises, how it manifests, and where safeguards succeed or fail.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
"So the international community needs to understand the power we are bringing into the world, and that must be managed, must be governed through institutions, treaties, and democratic safeguards."
From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026
Zeldin told reporters that safeguards against "hazardous air pollutants" would remain in place "to safeguard human health".
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
“Our safeguards blocked many of their requests, but not all of them.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
My stomach feels like it’s on a roller coaster with no safeguards.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
These kinds of investigations hint at a larger reality in the Ecuadorean province, where modern life bends around an ecosystem so fiercely safeguarded that wildlife effectively holds legal right of way.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Robert Gunn, station director of Sizewell B, said the deal would ensure hundreds of jobs were safeguarded.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
During the service, with President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in the congregation, the Catholic leader called for "greater room for freedom" and human dignity to be safeguarded.
From Barron's ● Apr. 23, 2026
Of the 38 vulnerable people safeguarded and referred to agencies, nine of them were children.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
According to the Pukhtunwali code of panah, or asylum, if a person asks for protection against his enemies, the person, in this case Osama, would be safeguarded at all costs.
From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai
She said it would never be possible to know exactly how many lives could have been saved if safeguarding procedures had been properly followed.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
It is expected that the report will find there were significant safeguarding failures, and will recommend changes across the NHS.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
"All the safeguarding guidance in the world makes no difference to the safety of babies if those to whom concerns are expressed do nothing."
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
It warns that safeguarding election integrity is a prerequisite for any candidate’s viability, regardless of message.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 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.
