Library / English Dictionary

PRESERVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fruit preserved by cooking with sugar

Synonyms:

conserve; conserves; preserve; preserves

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

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

confiture (preserved or candied fruit)

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

apple butter (thick dark spicy puree of apples)

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)

Derivation:

preserve (prevent (food) from rotting)

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:

A domain that seems to be specially reserved for someone

Example:

medicine is no longer a male preserve

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

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)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Prevent (food) from rotting

Example:

keep potatoes fresh

Synonyms:

keep; preserve

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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"):

corn (preserve with salt)

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

refrigerate (preserve by chilling)

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 2

Meaning:

To keep up and reserve for personal or special use

Example:

She saved the old family photographs in a drawer

Synonyms:

preserve; save

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

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 3

Meaning:

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

Example:

The museum curator conserved the ancient manuscripts

Synonyms:

conserve; keep up; maintain; preserve

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

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 4

Meaning:

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

Example:

Carry on the old traditions

Synonyms:

bear on; carry on; continue; preserve; uphold

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

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 5

Meaning:

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

Example:

preserve the forest and the lakes

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

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

Sense 6

Meaning:

Maintain in safety from injury, harm, or danger

Example:

May God keep you

Synonyms:

keep; preserve

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A refrigerated cabinet or room for preserving materials at or below 32F (0C).

(Freezer, NCI Thesaurus)

This ground in front belongs to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord Southerton’s preserves.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sherlock Holmes preserved his calm professional manner until our visitor had left us, although it was easy for me, who knew him so well, to see that he was profoundly excited.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A small percentage of organic carbon is not broken down by microbes, but instead stays preserved underground for millions of years.

(Carbon hides in sediment, keeping oxygen in atmosphere, National Science Foundation)

High levels of silica in the rock could indicate ideal conditions for preserving ancient organic material, if present, so the science team wants to take a closer look.

(Curiosity Rover Inspects Unusual Bedrock, NASA)

The greatest challenge was inserting the active principle in small doses preserving the desired effect of the medicine in the bloodstream.

(New HIV medicine under development for children in Brazil, Agência Brasil/EBC)

In this new finding, in addition to the surprising discovery of over 300 eggs, an unprecedented 16 embryos with preserved eggs in three dimensions were unearthed.

(Brazil and China scientists unearth pterosaur eggs with preserved embryos, Agência Brasil)

During sleep, brain MEG responses demonstrated preserved detection of isolated sounds, but no response reflecting statistical clustering.

(Learning While Sleeping?, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

How water ice could be preserved there is a mystery.

(A Fresh Look at Older Data Yields a Surprise Near the Martian Equator, NASA)

In the new study, the researchers showed that growing T cells under conditions of high potassium also preserves the “stemness” of the T cells.

(Harnessing T-cell “stemness” could enhance cancer immunotherapy, National Institutes of Health)