Dictionaries › English

safe

Pronunciation: /ˈseɪ̯f/

The English word “safe” has 19 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Not in danger; out of harm's reach.
  2. Free from risk.
  3. Providing protection from danger; providing shelter.
  4. When a batter successfully reaches first base, or when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base or returns to the base he last occupied; not out.
  5. In a location that renders it difficult to pot.
  6. Properly secured.
  7. Not susceptible to a specified source of harm.
  8. Great, cool, awesome, respectable; a term of approbation, often as interjection.
  9. Supported by evidence and unlikely to be overturned. Usually used in the negative, as unsafe.
  10. Lenient, usually describing a teacher that is easy-going.
  11. Reliable; trusty.
  12. Certain; sure.
  13. Cautious.
  14. Of a programming language, type-safe or more generally offering well-defined behavior despite programming errors.

noun

  1. A box, usually made of metal, in which valuables can be locked for safekeeping.
  2. A condom.
  3. A ventilated or refrigerated chest or closet for securing provisions from noxious animals or insects.
  4. A safety bicycle.

verb

  1. To make something safe.

Etymology

From Middle English sauf, safe, saf, saaf, from Old French sauf, saulf, salf (“safe”), from Latin salvus (“whole, safe”), from Proto-Italic *salawos, from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- (“whole, every”). Displaced Old English sicor (“secure, sure”).

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “safe” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.