save
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To keep something for later, or to stop someone from harm.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sayvIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈseɪv
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
transitive
To prevent harm or difficulty.
To keep up and reserve for personal or special use
“She saved the old family photographs in a drawer.”
To keep (something) safe; to safeguard.
To help (somebody) to survive, or rescue (somebody or something) from harm.
To spare (somebody) from effort, or from something undesirable.
Refrain from harming
noun
An instance of preventing (further) harm or difficulty.
In various sports, a block that prevents an opponent from scoring.
A river in southern France that flows about 143 km (89 mi) from the Pyrenees to the Garonne at Grenade.
informal
An action that brings one back out of an awkward situation.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To prevent harm or difficulty.
Used this way, save is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- 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 save
- “She saved the old family photographs in a drawer.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Rescued.
Someone who saves something from danger or violence.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A receptacle for catching waste products for further use.
Accumulate money for future use.
An act that avoids a loss of face (of dignity or prestige).
A moving design that appears on a computer screen when there has been no input for a specified period of time.
A candy shaped like a small lifesaver.
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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.