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
-
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:
“The findings provide additional evidence supporting the role of a 6-8 hours’ sleep duration as a health safeguard for middle-aged and older adults, likely attributable to more favorable distributions of sleep stages,” the authors say.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 24, 2026
“At a time when California is racing to keep pace with a rapidly changing climate, we cannot afford to lose the flexibility needed to safeguard our forests for future generations.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
“Japan feels a sense of responsibility to safeguard the ideals of the United Nations as our beacon of hope,” Takaichi said on Tuesday.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
Midwife Renata Hanif deals with around 200 cases each year and says her job is to ensure the wellbeing of women and safeguard unborn children.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
If the Capitol wanted to safeguard them, they’d be down in a bunker somewhere.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
"The company still has an opportunity to demonstrate accountability by strengthening safeguards, improving transparency and taking concrete action to help prevent similar tragedies in the future."
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
With over 100 signatories, the letter called for diversity in evaluations and operational safeguards to help evaluators maintain independence.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026
That uncertainty argues for vigilance, safeguards and serious debate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
But anything ambitious, such as agreeing to slow development or craft global safeguards, is likely out of reach.
From Barron's
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
"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
"May there be greater room for freedom and may the dignity of the human person always be safeguarded," the Pope said pointedly.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
We cautiously removed the heavy stone that safeguarded Rosa’s eternal rest and slid the white coffin from its niche.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
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
Chambers, along with director of nursing and head of safeguarding Alison Kelly and medical director Ian Harvey, "dismissed the idea that Letby was deliberately harming babies", Thirlwall added.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Thirlwall added that "no-one seems to have understood that safeguarding action is required when a member of staff is suspected of causing deliberate harm - and does not require colleagues to be sure of guilt".
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
However, he maintains that "Alexandre de Moraes has done an extraordinary job safeguarding democracy."
From Barron's
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.
