protect
verb
Simple meaning
To keep safe.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pruhtehktSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pɹəˈtɛkt
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.
verb
ambitransitive
To keep safe; to defend; to guard; to prevent harm coming to.
travelaviation
To book a passenger on a later flight if there is a chance they will not be able to board their earlier reserved flight.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (ambitransitive) To keep safe; to defend; to guard; to prevent harm coming to.
Used this way, protect is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use protect
- “Weatherbeater protects your roof from the rain.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Kept safe or defended from danger or injury or loss.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A person who cares for persons or property.
Intended or adapted to afford protection of some kind.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The activity of protecting someone or something.
The policy of imposing duties or quotas on imports in order to protect home industries from overseas competition.
A covering that is intend to protect from damage or injury.
A covering that is intend to protect from damage or injury.
A flap of tissue that protects what it covers.
Clothing that is intended to protect the wearer from injury.
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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.