safeguard
Americannoun
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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)
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
-
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:
As the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, Cooper’s mission has been to prosecute the war with Iran and safeguard American security interests in the region.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Earlier this year, a handful of West Virginia legislators pushed to add some “bumpers” to the program to safeguard public funds.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
The troops will assist with evacuating residents from areas threatened by the fires and help safeguard homes left unattended during the emergency, the defence ministry said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
It also added digital signature barcodes on driver’s licenses and identification cards as an added safeguard against identity fraud.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Those walls would keep the worst things out and safeguard his secrets within.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
A string of AI-driven cyberattacks has fuelled calls for tighter safeguards and oversight of the technology, over concerns about the risks posed by increasingly powerful autonomous systems.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
The regulator said "safeguards" designed to monitor cost efficiency would include transparency and cost reporting requirements, and assurance by independent experts.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
Anthropic apologized and subsequently made those safeguards visible to users.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
The agency lifted its restrictions after the company said it had addressed workarounds that let users evade safeguards.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Dupont, after all, would not have known who had been given the replicas of the diamond; he had no insight into the last-second safeguards of the museum.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
The executive pointed to China, as well as Japan and South Korea—which both allow the sale of Chinese cars—as examples of countries that successfully safeguarded their domestic auto industries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
Of the 38 vulnerable people safeguarded and referred to agencies, nine of them were children.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 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
India said the deal safeguarded sensitive sectors including dairy, cereals, poultry, soybean meal and certain fruits and vegetables.
From Barron's ● Jan. 27, 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
If the economy is weakening, yields will fall, and the economy picks up, safeguarding employment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
In response to the concerns raised by Fife Cook regarding safeguarding, a council spokesman said in a statement: "Safeguarding children and young people is our highest priority."
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
They called on the DUP to commission a "different" safeguarding organisation to undertake the review.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
By gaining a better understanding of how chemicals such as sulfoxaflor influence bee biology, researchers hope to develop farming practices that protect crops while also safeguarding the pollinators that many food systems depend on.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
But her main accomplishment may have been inadvertently to keep new ideas about Amazonian history from the public eye—ideas about its past that may, according to their advocates, play a role in safeguarding its future.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
