con·serve | \ kən-ˈsərv 
\
\conserved; conserving
Definition of conserve
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : to keep in a safe or sound state
He conserved his inheritance. especially : to avoid wasteful or destructive use of conserve natural resources conserve our wildlife
2 : to preserve with sugar
3 : to maintain (a quantity) constant during a process of chemical, physical, or evolutionary change
conserved DNA sequences
conserve
nouncon·serve | \ ˈkän-ˌsərv \
\Definition of conserve (Entry 2 of 2)
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Examples of conserve in a Sentence
Verb
With so little rain, everyone had to conserve water.
We need to conserve our natural resources.
Don't run around too much—you need to conserve your strength.
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Recent Examples on the Web: Verb In some communities, hospitals have started limiting elective procedures in order to conserve resources.
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The Salt Lake Tribune, "Biden advisers to meet vaccine firms as Trump stalls handoff," 15 Nov. 2020 In some communities, hospitals have started limiting elective procedures in order to conserve resources.
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Star Tribune, "Biden advisers to meet vaccine firms as Trump stalls handoff," 15 Nov. 2020 To conserve bandwidth and computing resources, servers will respond to only a set number of requests from other servers.
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Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, "DNS cache poisoning, the Internet attack from 2008, is back from the dead," 12 Nov. 2020 Replacing these perks with a tax credit for stabilizing groundwater and substituting a depreciation schedule favoring more efficient irrigation equipment could provide strong incentives to conserve water.
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Burke Griggs, The Conversation, "Farmers are depleting the Ogallala Aquifer because the government pays them to do it," 9 Nov. 2020 After a couple months, in spite of the town's effort to conserve, the well did run dry.
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Tony Holt, Arkansas Online, "Guard hauling water to Fifty-Six," 24 Oct. 2020 In an effort to conserve even more water per flush, some American Standard toilets offer a dual-flush option.
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Michael Pollick, chicagotribune.com, "The best American Standard toilet," 17 Oct. 2020 But what sounds like some illicit trafficking scheme was the first step in what would become a decades-long effort to conserve one of Central America’s most cherished species: the guacamaya roja, or scarlet macaw (Ara macao).
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Jordan Salama, Smithsonian Magazine, "How the Stunning Scarlet Macaw Came Back From the Brink," 28 Apr. 2020 Another factor in stubble burning is that in order to conserve groundwater levels in the states of northern Punjab and Haryana, the rice sowing season was pushed from May to June, to coincide with India’s monsoon.
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Manavi Kapur, Quartz India, "Delhi’s air pollution could have a fix in behavioural economics," 29 Oct. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Visitors will learn about the diversity of California’s native flora and how its use in urban landscapes reduces pesticides, conserves water and transforms spaces into thriving habitats.
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La Cañada Valley Sun, "La Cañada area events: Oktoberfest celebrations, ‘Carved’ at Descanso, Book & Author luncheon and more," 1 Oct. 2019 In the 21st century, progressive design conserves financial and natural resources and honors its physical and cultural context.
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Los Angeles Times, "Calendar letters to the editor: Young Latinx musicians are carrying on a tradition," 30 Aug. 2019 This model is how our society values, restores, and conserves wildlife through noncommercial, legitimate hunting activities and scientific game management.
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Anchorage Daily News, "Women have always been hunters, and hunting has nothing to do with gender," 6 Aug. 2019 Mulch also suppresses weeds and conserves soil moisture.
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Washington Post, "Heavy rains can damage a vegetable garden — but the gardener can protect it," 24 July 2019 Doing so conserves resources (those not wasted on people who are not likely to respond or be in need of help).
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Austin Frakt, New York Times, "It Saves Lives. It Can Save Money. So Why Aren’t We Spending More on Public Health?," 28 May 2018 The benefit of this method is that the thick mulch conserves soil moisture and smothers weeds.
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Doug Hall, Good Housekeeping, "7 Ways To Grow Potatoes," 28 June 2016 His family had been manufacturing conserves since 1885 but with regular, unremarkable, dreadfully ordinary berries.
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Zahra Pettican, Bon Appetit, "This Incredible Strawberry Jam Is Made with Rare, Extremely Tiny Strawberries," 25 Apr. 2018 Purple beets are a positive bummer, leaden slabs squirted with oily olive puree and huckleberry conserves without any dairy or acid to cut through the dense, beety fog.
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Mike Sula, Chicago Reader, "With Marisol inside the MCA, Jason Hammel paints a new canvas," 13 Dec. 2017
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'conserve.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for conserve
conserve
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of conserve
: a sweet food made by cooking pieces of fruit with sugar
See the full definition for conserve in the English Language Learners Dictionary
conserve
verbcon·serve | \ kən-ˈsərv \
\conserved; conserving
Kids Definition of conserve
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : to prevent the waste of
Close the window to conserve heat.
2 : to keep in a safe condition : save We must conserve our forests.
conserve
nouncon·serve | \ ˈkän-ˌsərv \
\Kids Definition of conserve (Entry 2 of 2)
: a rich fruit preserve
conserve
nouncon·serve | \ ˈkän-ˌsərv \
\Medical Definition of conserve
(Entry 1 of 2)
: an obsolete medicinal preparation made by mixing undried vegetable drugs with sufficient powdered sugar to form a soft mass — compare confection
conserve
transitive verbcon·serve | \ kən-ˈsərv \
\conserved; conserving
Medical Definition of conserve (Entry 2 of 2)
: to maintain (a quantity) constant during a process of chemical, physical, or evolutionary change
a DNA sequence that has been conserved
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Time Traveler for conserve
The first known use of conserve was in the 14th century
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