PRESERVE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does preserve mean? 

• PRESERVE (noun)
  The noun PRESERVE has 3 senses:

1. a domain that seems to be specially reserved for someone

2. a reservation where animals are protected

3. fruit preserved by cooking with sugar

  Familiarity information: PRESERVE used as a noun is uncommon.

• PRESERVE (verb)
  The verb PRESERVE has 6 senses:

1. keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last

2. keep in safety and protect from harm, decay, loss, or destruction

3. to keep up and reserve for personal or special use

4. prevent (food) from rotting

5. maintain in safety from injury, harm, or danger

6. keep undisturbed for personal or private use for hunting, shooting, or fishing

  Familiarity information: PRESERVE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRESERVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A domain that seems to be specially reserved for someone

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

medicine is no longer a male preserve

Hypernyms ("preserve" is a kind of...):

area; arena; domain; field; orbit; sphere (a particular environment or walk of life)

Derivation:

preserve (to keep up and reserve for personal or special use)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A reservation where animals are protected

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("preserve" is a kind of...):

reservation; reserve (a district that is reserved for particular purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "preserve"):

shooting preserve (a preserve on which hunting is permitted during certain months of the year)

Derivation:

preserve (maintain in safety from injury, harm, or danger)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Fruit preserved by cooking with sugar

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

conserve; conserves; preserve; preserves

Hypernyms ("preserve" is a kind of...):

confiture (preserved or candied fruit)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "preserve"):

chowchow (a Chinese preserve of mixed fruits and ginger)

jam (preserve of crushed fruit)

lemon cheese; lemon curd (a conserve with a thick consistency; made with lemons and butter and eggs and sugar)

jelly (a preserve made of the jelled juice of fruit)

marmalade (a preserve made of the pulp and rind of citrus fruits)

apple butter (thick dark spicy puree of apples)

Derivation:

preserve (prevent (food) from rotting)

• PRESERVE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they preserve    ... he / she / it preserves   
Past simple: preserved   
Past participle: preserved   
-ing form: preserving   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

bear on; carry on; continue; preserve; uphold

Context example:

Carry on the old traditions

Hypernyms (to "preserve" is one way to...):

hold; keep; maintain (cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., 'keep clean')

Verb group:

continue; go forward; proceed (move ahead; travel onward in time or space)

continue; go along; go on; keep; proceed (continue a certain state, condition, or activity)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "preserve"):

re-start; restart; resume (take up or begin anew)

hang in; hang on; hold on; persevere; persist (be persistent, refuse to stop)

perpetuate (cause to continue or prevail)

keep up; prolong; sustain (lengthen or extend in duration or space)

mummify (preserve while making lifeless)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

preservation (the condition of being (well or ill) preserved)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Keep in safety and protect from harm, decay, loss, or destruction

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

conserve; keep up; maintain; preserve

Context example:

The museum curator conserved the ancient manuscripts

Hypernyms (to "preserve" is one way to...):

keep (look after; be the keeper of; have charge of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "preserve"):

embalm (preserve a dead body)

plastinate (preserve (tissue) with plastics, as for teaching and research purposes)

hold the line (hold the line on prices; keep the price of something constant)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

preservation (the activity of protecting something from loss or danger)

preservative (tending or having the power to preserve)

Sense 3

Meaning:

To keep up and reserve for personal or special use

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

preserve; save

Context example:

She saved the old family photographs in a drawer

Hypernyms (to "preserve" is one way to...):

hold on; keep (retain possession of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "preserve"):

enter; put down; record (make a record of; set down in permanent form)

conserve; economise; economize; husband (use cautiously and frugally)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue preserve the movie

Derivation:

preserve (a domain that seems to be specially reserved for someone)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Prevent (food) from rotting

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

keep; preserve

Context example:

keep potatoes fresh

Hypernyms (to "preserve" is one way to...):

cook; fix; make; prepare; ready (prepare for eating by applying heat)

Verb group:

keep; stay fresh (fail to spoil or rot)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "preserve"):

refrigerate (preserve by chilling)

corn (preserve with salt)

cure (prepare by drying, salting, or chemical processing in order to preserve)

can; put up; tin (preserve in a can or tin)

salt (preserve with salt)

pickle (preserve in a pickling liquid)

dehydrate; desiccate (preserve by removing all water and liquids from)

conserve (preserve with sugar)

freeze-dry (preserve by rapid freezing and subsequently drying in a vacuum)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

The chefs preserve the vegetables

Derivation:

preservative (tending or having the power to preserve)

preserve (fruit preserved by cooking with sugar)

preserver (a cook who preserves fruits or meat)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Maintain in safety from injury, harm, or danger

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

keep; preserve

Context example:

May God keep you

Hypernyms (to "preserve" is one way to...):

protect (shield from danger, injury, destruction, or damage)

Verb group:

keep (look after; be the keeper of; have charge of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

preservation (the activity of protecting something from loss or danger)

preserve (a reservation where animals are protected)

preserver (someone who keeps safe from harm or danger)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Keep undisturbed for personal or private use for hunting, shooting, or fishing

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

preserve the forest and the lakes

Hypernyms (to "preserve" is one way to...):

hold; keep; maintain (cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., 'keep clean')

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

You may be aware, my dear Mr. Copperfield, that between myself and Mr. Micawber (whom I will never desert), there has always been preserved a spirit of mutual confidence.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Processes that promote, sustain, and preserve cell viability.

(Cell Maintenance, NCI Thesaurus)

God preserve my sanity, for to this I am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The luminal epithelial and myopepithelial cells are preserved.

(Breast Sclerosing Adenosis, NCI Thesaurus)

An’ there’s Smoke, the black little devil—didn’t the Roosians have him for three years in the salt mines of Siberia, for poachin’ on Copper Island, which is a Roosian preserve?

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

A sample of air that preserves the composition of the environment at the time it was deposited.

(Fossil air, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

Here it is; I would not burn it, because being even then very little satisfied with Mr Elliot, I was determined to preserve every document of former intimacy.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The VIGXXGXXI sequence is preserved in the RNA binding motif between helix 1 and 2 (type-1) and helix 2 and 3 (type-2).

(KH Domain, NCI Thesaurus)

The targeted inhibition of PI3K-delta is designed to preserve PI3K signaling in normal, non-neoplastic cells.

(Idelalisib, NCI Thesaurus)

She had evidently been a handsome woman, and was well preserved still.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)