conservative
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
Someone who seeks to promote traditions in a particular domain.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhnsurvuhtivSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kənˈsɝvətɪv
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
especially USCanadapolitics
One who seeks to promote traditions in a particular domain (e.g. a fiscal conservative or a social conservative).
A person who favors maintenance of the status quo.
politics
One who seeks to promote or preserve traditional values or institutions.
adjective
Tending to resist change or innovation.
Cautious, moderate.
Having power to preserve in a safe or entire state, or from loss, waste, or injury; preservative.
Based on pessimistic assumptions, and on the low side.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (especially US, Canada, politics) One who seeks to promote traditions in a particular domain (e.g. a fiscal conservative or a social conservative).
Used this way, conservative is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a financial use: it has a settled meaning in accounting and business, where precision matters more than colour.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Finance/economics
- Business/professional
- Government/politics
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Nearby words
- ultraconservative , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use conservative
- “Many people hold a conservative view on traditional family values.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Political
Having power
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The custodian of a collection (as a museum or library).
A political or theological orientation advocating the preservation of the best in society and opposing radical changes.
In a conservative manner.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Jews who keep some of the requirements of the Mosaic law but allow for adaptation of other requirements (as some of the dietary laws) to fit modern circumstances.
A political party (especially in Great Britain or Australia) that believes in the importance of a capitalist economy with private ownership rather than state control.
Jew who keeps some requirements of Mosaic law but adapts others to suit modern circumstances.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: one who seeks to promote traditions in a particular domain (e.g. a fiscal conservative
Antonyms
Sense: one who seeks to promote traditions in a particular domain (e.g. a fiscal conservative
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.