GUARDIAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does guardian mean? 

• GUARDIAN (noun)
  The noun GUARDIAN has 1 sense:

1. a person who cares for persons or property

  Familiarity information: GUARDIAN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GUARDIAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who cares for persons or property

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

defender; guardian; protector; shielder

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

preserver (someone who keeps safe from harm or danger)

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

admonisher; monitor; reminder (someone who gives a warning so that a mistake can be avoided)

bodyguard; escort (someone who escorts and protects a prominent person)

champion; fighter; hero; paladin (someone who fights for a cause)

chaperon; chaperone (one who accompanies and supervises a young woman or gatherings of young people)

custodian; keeper; steward (one having charge of buildings or grounds or animals)

fire-eater; fire fighter; firefighter; fireman (a member of a fire department who tries to extinguish fires)

foster-parent; foster parent (a person who acts as parent and guardian for a child in place of the child's natural parents but without legally adopting the child)

guard (a person who keeps watch over something or someone)

keeper (someone in charge of other people)

law officer; lawman; peace officer (an officer of the law)

patron saint (a saint who is considered to be a defender of some group or nation)

peacekeeper (someone who keeps peace)

tribune ((ancient Rome) an official elected by the plebeians to protect their interests)

watchdog (a guardian or defender against theft or illegal practices or waste)

Derivation:

guardianship (the responsibility of a guardian or keeper)

guardianship (attention and management implying responsibility for safety)

 Context examples 

“You'll consider yourself guardian, jointly with me, of this child, Mr. Dick,” said my aunt.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Neptune, your guardian planet, has been retrograde since June 21 but will move forward this month on November 27.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Surely my guardian angel was very near me then, for some instinct of fear, or it may have been some faint rustle of leaves, made me glance upwards.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Guardians might not have been able to move far to find food.

(Slow-cooking dinosaur eggs may have contributed to extinction, Wikinews)

EXAMPLE(S): family member, roommate, guardian, nursing home attendant

(Associated Biologic Entity Type Code, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

With his permission my mother prevailed on her rustic guardians to yield their charge to her.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

And this, I fear, is all that can be said for the conduct of one, who was at once her uncle and guardian.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

“It is with mine other guardian angels,” quoth he, pointing at the saints' medals which hung beside it.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And pray what sort of guardians do you make?

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The next day she laid the affair before Mr. Brocklehurst, who said that Mrs. Reed must be written to, as she was my natural guardian.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)