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# preserve

«preserve» in Mova's school dictionary: **To keep something safe from harm, damage or change:…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (preserve, preserves, preserved, preserving); noun (a preserve, preserves)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To keep something safe from harm, damage or change: preserve old buildings, preserve wildlife. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preserve/#m1)

2) To treat food so it lasts a long time, by drying, salting, freezing, pickling or making jam. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preserve/#m2)

3) (noun) Jam or fruit cooked with sugar to keep: strawberry preserves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preserve/#m3)

4) (noun) An area kept for wild animals, or something that belongs to only one group: «a game preserve». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preserve/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons fossils are preserved in rock, ice or amber; salt and cold preserve food by stopping germs. In geography and everyday life we preserve forests, rivers and old buildings. In maths, some changes preserve a shape's size (a turn or slide), and «preserve the order» means keep it the same. Phrases: «preserve wildlife», «well preserved», «preserved in ice», «strawberry preserves».

### examples

- Salt helps preserve fish. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preserve/#x1)
- The insect was preserved in amber for millions of years. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preserve/#x2)
- We must preserve the rainforest for future people. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preserve/#x3)
- Grandma makes plum preserves every autumn. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preserve/#x4)
- The mammoth was preserved in the ice. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preserve/#x5)
- A turn preserves the size and shape of a triangle. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preserve/#x6)
- The old castle is well preserved. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preserve/#x7)
- Freezing preserves food for months. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preserve/#x8)
- I should have liked to preserve a specimen. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preserve/#x9)

### note

Regular verb: preserved. Noun: preservation; adjective: preservative (a chemical that stops food going bad). Similar: protect, keep, save, conserve. «Preserves» (jam) is often plural.

### In the corpora

- ["Well-preserved" is a cheeky way to say someone is old but still looks good.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/5/)
- [A fossil is the preserved remains or trace of a living thing from long ago, usually over 10,000 years old.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/geography/57-fossils/8/)
- [A fossil is the remains or trace of a living thing from long ago preserved in rock.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/61-rocks-minerals-fossils/14/)
- [Thou wilt keep them, O LORD; Thou wilt preserve us from this generation for ever.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.153/)
- [Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, because I wait for Thee.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.379/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «preserve» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preserve/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.