secure
Americanadjective
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free from or not exposed to danger or harm; safe.
- Antonyms:
- unsafe
-
dependable; firm; not liable to fail, yield, become displaced, etc., as a support or a fastening.
The building was secure, even in an earthquake.
-
affording safety, as a place.
He needed a secure hideout.
-
in safe custody or keeping.
Here in the vault the necklace was secure.
-
free from care; without anxiety.
emotionally secure.
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firmly established, as a relationship or reputation.
He earned a secure place among the baseball immortals.
-
sure; certain; assured.
secure of victory;
secure in religious belief.
- Synonyms:
- confident
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safe from penetration or interception by unauthorized persons.
secure radio communications between army units.
-
Archaic. overconfident.
verb (used with object)
-
secures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
secured,
past participle, past
-
securing
present participle
-
to get hold or possession of; procure; obtain.
to secure materials;
to secure a high government position.
- Synonyms:
- gain
-
to free from danger or harm; make safe.
Sandbags secured the town during the flood.
-
to effect; make certain of; ensure.
The novel secured his reputation.
-
to make firm or fast, as by attaching.
to secure a rope.
-
Finance.
-
to assure payment of (a debt) by pledging property.
-
to assure (a creditor) of payment by the pledge or mortgaging of property.
-
-
to lock or fasten against intruders.
to secure the doors.
-
to protect from attack by taking cover, by building fortifications, etc..
The regiment secured its position.
-
to capture (a person or animal).
No one is safe until the murderer is secured.
-
to tie up (a person), especially by binding the person's arms or hands; pinion.
-
to guarantee the privacy or secrecy of.
to secure diplomatic phone conversations.
verb (used without object)
-
secures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
secured,
past participle, past
-
securing
present participle
-
to be or become safe; have or obtain security.
-
Nautical.
-
to cover openings and make movable objects fast.
The crew was ordered to secure for sea.
-
to be excused from duty.
to secure from general quarters.
-
adjective
-
free from danger, damage, etc
-
free from fear, care, etc
-
in safe custody
-
not likely to fail, become loose, etc
-
able to be relied on; certain
a secure investment
-
nautical stowed away or made inoperative
-
archaic careless or overconfident
verb
-
(tr) to obtain or get possession of
I will secure some good seats
-
to make or become free from danger, fear, etc
-
(tr) to make fast or firm; fasten
-
to make or become certain; guarantee
this plan will secure your happiness
-
(tr) to assure (a creditor) of payment, as by giving security
-
(tr) to make (a military position) safe from attack
-
nautical to make (a vessel or its contents) safe or ready by battening down hatches, stowing gear, etc
-
(tr) nautical to stow or make inoperative
to secure the radio
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
securementnoun
-
securenessnoun
-
securernoun
-
supersecurenessnoun
-
unsecurenessnoun
-
resecureverb
-
presecureverb (used with object)
-
oversecureadjective
-
quasi-secureadjective
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securableadjective
-
supersecureadjective
-
unsecureadjective
-
well-securedadjective
-
oversecurelyadverb
-
quasi-securelyadverb
-
securelyadverb
-
supersecurelyadverb
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unsecurelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
securesimple
-
securessimple
-
have securedperfect
-
has securedperfect
-
am securingprogressive
-
are securingprogressive
-
is securingprogressive
-
have been securingperfect progressive
-
has been securingperfect progressive
Past
-
securedsimple
-
had securedperfect
-
was securingprogressive
-
were securingprogressive
-
had been securingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of secure
First recorded in 1525โ35; from Latin sฤcลซrus โcarefree,โ equivalent to sฤ- se- + cลซr(a) โcareโ ( see cure) + -us, adjective suffix; cf. sure
Explanation
Secure means safe, protected. Your money is secure in a bank. Supportive friends and family make you feel secure. Secure can also be used as a verb. You secure the sails before you take out the sailboat, which means you tie them down. If you secure someone a ticket to a popular Broadway play, you've found them a hard-to-find seat. On an airplane, you're told that in the event you need an oxygen mask, you should secure yours โ get it in place โ before helping someone else. Almost all meanings contain the idea of safety: making sure things are right.
Vocabulary lists containing secure
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 1
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Preamble to the U.S. Constitution (1787)
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The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 1
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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:
Making sure your father-in-law has a safe and secure place to live is the No. 1 priority.
From MarketWatch โ Oct. 22, 2026
The British Museum said that while residents were offered the chance to secure tickets before wider release, these were on a "first come, first served basis".
From BBC โ Oct. 21, 2026
Anthropic, OpenAI and Google are among the AI giants scrambling to secure it, with the country’s data-center build-out expected to take years.
From The Wall Street Journal โ Oct. 21, 2026
In an effort to offer something new — and help secure its permanence — the duo are ramping up Cole’s’ culinary offerings, envisioning a return to the kind of dining that might draw guests downtown.
From Los Angeles Times โ Oct. 20, 2026
She uses her key to secure it tightly before walking away.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
By the time of his silver jubilee in 1935, the position of this reimagined British monarchy was securer than it had ever been.
From Washington Post โ Jan. 28, 2022
In general, it was not a year in which the older novelists made their reputations securer.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tough roots, however, grew here, strong enough to afford a securer hold than might have been expected; then where the slope ended she stopped.
From The White Hand and the Black A Story of the Natal Rising by Bertram Mitford
Her manner was securer, her eyes more grave, her smile less frequent.
From The Perfume of Eros: A Fifth Avenue Incident by Edgar Saltus
But it has suited her book to maintain the present elusive and anomalous relations with Tibet, which are a securer buttress to her western dependencies against encroachment than the strongest army corps.
From The Unveiling of Lhasa by Edmund Candler
The securest hold was Adam Sandler's: his Grown Ups fell a negligible 14%.
From Time โ Jul. 11, 2010
Asserted one of Thatcher's aides: "It's going to stimulate the economy, and expansion is the securest form of revenue."
From Time Magazine Archive
Even threaten the securest position, when long continued.
From Time Magazine Archive
The odds are that Poetry London-New York will not prove the securest of jobs for Tambi.
From Time Magazine Archive
A constitution has been acquired, which, though neither of us thinks perfect, yet both consider as competent to render our fellow-citizens the happiest and the securest on whom the sun has ever shone.
From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 4 by Thomas Jefferson Randolph
Enerflex stock rises sharply after it secures a contract to build generators for a data center developer.
From Barron's โ Oct. 1, 2026
For a quarter-century, Lee has been the producer who secures material before studios know they want it.
From The Wall Street Journal โ Sep. 20, 2026
Littler capitalised by taking out 39 for a win which secures his place at the European Championship in Dortmund in October.
From BBC โ Sep. 6, 2026
A chip nobody else would want secures nothing, because a lender who seizes it has nothing to sell.
From MarketWatch โ Aug. 20, 2026
My hands fumble along the collar of my shirt and find the button that secures it shut.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
If you haven’t noticed, recent months have been replete with stories of heirlooms being walked out of poorly secured French museums.
From The Wall Street Journal โ Oct. 20, 2026
Kao and Hartman struck a similar bargain with Wilson, Kao told the FBI, at a private lunch he secured by donating to his campaign.
From Salon โ Oct. 20, 2026
Campaigners claim some owners are "gaming the system" by submitting planning applications while applying for their licence but then withdrawing the planning application after the licence is secured.
From BBC โ Oct. 19, 2026
The actor has secured four permits to repair damage caused by a massive, expanding sinkhole the opened up Sept. 8 outside his home on Sea Level Drive, city records show.
From Los Angeles Times โ Oct. 19, 2026
Chestnutt huddled in a corner, the straps of my backpack—which Ayanna had secured to the raft—crisscrossed over her little body like a harness.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas models 8.3 gigawatts by the end of next year, citing a “lack of clarity on securing power, steep execution risks, and financing overhang.”
From MarketWatch โ Oct. 21, 2026
The endorsement also gives Raman newfound clout in an area where her campaign has struggled: securing support from her fellow elected officials.
From Los Angeles Times โ Oct. 20, 2026
Fulham were 1-0 up through Ryan Sessegnon's second-half strike and close to securing a first win of the campaign against Ipswich Town last weekend before they were undone by two late goals at Portman Road.
From BBC โ Oct. 16, 2026
The southern Bouches-du-Rhone department said it planned to rebuild the school, but the project depended on securing additional land from the city of Marseille, with discussions ongoing for years.
From Barron's โ Oct. 16, 2026
At home in Berkeley, he spent a weekend scouting locations for a heavy-water reactor, convinced that he was on the verge of securing the project as an adjunct to the Rad Lab.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, ยฉ Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritageยฎ Idioms Dictionary copyright ยฉ 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
