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preserve Definition

pre·serve (prē zʉrv′, pri-)

transitive verb -·served′, -·serv′·ing

  1. to keep from harm, damage, danger, evil, etc.; protect; save
  2. to keep from spoiling or rotting
  3. to prepare (food), as by canning, pickling, salting, etc., for future use
  4. to keep up; carry on; maintain
  5. to maintain and protect (game, fish, etc.) in an area, esp. for regulated hunting or fishing

Etymology: ME preserven < MFr preserver < ML praeservare, to preserve, protect < LL, to observe beforehand < L prae-, pre- + servare: see observe

intransitive verb

  1. to preserve fruit, etc.
  2. to maintain a game preserve

noun

  1. fruit preserved whole or in large pieces by cooking with sugar
  2. a place where game, fish, etc. are preserved
  3. any place or activity treated as the special domain of some person or group
  4. something that preserves or is preserved

preserve Related Forms

pre·serv′·able adjective pre·serv′er noun

preserve Synonyms

preserve

v.

  1. To guard

    protect, shield, save; see defend 2.

  2. To maintain

    keep up, care for, conserve; see maintain 3.

  3. To keep

    can, conserve, process, save, put up, put down, souse, store, cure, bottle, do up, season, salt, pickle, put in brine, put in vinegar, pot, tin, dry, sun-dry, smoke, corn, dry-cure, smoke-cure, freeze, quick freeze, keep up, cold-pack, refrigerate, dehydrate, seal up, kipper, marinate, evaporate, embalm, mummify, mothball, fill.

    Antonyms waste*, allow to spoil, let spoil.

preserve Usage Examples

Object

  • integrity: Multiple sealing materials are used to preserve sensor integrity over a wide range of applications.
  • confidentiality: In addition, to preserve the confidentiality of information about, or supplied by, organizations recorded in the data collections.
  • railroad: They would be interested to receive written offers from any preserved railroad looking to hire a DMU.
  • anonymity: Take care to preserve the anonymity of the respondents from the management otherwise the answers will be less honest.
  • heritage: Preserving railroad heritage in the North East of England.
  • peace: Richard I in that year commissioned certain knights to preserve the peace in unruly areas.

Preposition: as

  • memorial: Vimy Ridge is preserved as a memorial to the sacrifice these men made.
  • monument: Where are Europe's equivalents of Gettysburg, a battlefield preserved as a national monument?
  • museum: The Operations Room is preserved as a museum to those who fought in the Battle and contains artifacts and memorabilia from the period.

Adjective complement

intact: Above all, this was probably the author's intention: to renovate the classical tragedy preserving intact its magnitude.

Modifying Another Word

  • beautifully: On the way back, stop at Anghiari, a beautifully preserved medieval hill top town.
  • perfectly: Perhaps perfectly preserved by the Tay ' s swirling waters?
  • faithfully: The is even a secluded grotto which has been faithfully preserved at the western end of the Estate.
  • carefully: The extraordinary human history of St Kilda is carefully preserved in the Village with its neat little street of cottages.
  • wonderfully: A charming former merchant town, Hoi An is a wonderfully preserved architectural wonder combining Chinese, Japanese and European influences.
  • superbly: The fort contains the only visible example of a Roman hospital in Britain and superbly preserved latrines and flush system.

Used with why or when

what: It also preserved what I would call the liberal solution to difference.

Preposition: in

museum: With the large number of mummies preserved in museums, we would be poor scientists indeed if we could not reconstruct this procedure.

Preposition: for

  • posterity: Here, preserved for posterity, are a few speeches.
  • generation: What software artifacts would you want to preserve for future generations, products that made a difference in shaping the software industry?