safeguard

[ seyf-gahrd ]
See synonyms for safeguard on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. something that serves as a protection or defense or that ensures safety.

  2. a permit for safe passage.

  1. a guard or convoy.

  2. a mechanical device for ensuring safety.

verb (used with object)
  1. to guard; protect; secure.

Origin of safeguard

1
1325–75; Middle English savegarde (noun) safe conduct <Middle French salvegarde, sauvegarde.See safe, guard

Other words for safeguard

Other words from safeguard

  • un·safe·guard·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use safeguard in a sentence

  • Warm personal attachments will grow up in the family, and these attachments are likely to become safeguards of virtue.

  • And it is the duty of parents to provide safeguards for the support of their children against these temptations.

  • Clauses 27-30 safeguards interests of Judges and Civil Servants.

    Home Rule | Harold Spender
  • We're behind the rest of the country now in safeguards for miners; and our limping laws aren't observed.

    Mountain | Clement Wood
  • Antarctica is isolated enough to keep that knowledge secret for a long time—at least until safeguards could be set up.

    Unwise Child | Gordon Randall Garrett

British Dictionary definitions for safeguard

safeguard

/ (ˈseɪfˌɡɑːd) /


noun
  1. a person or thing that ensures protection against danger, damage, injury, etc

  2. a document authorizing safe-conduct

verb
  1. (tr) to defend or protect

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012