guardrail
noun
guard·rail
ˈgärd-ˌrāl 
: a railing guarding usually against danger
especially
: a barrier placed along the edge of a highway at dangerous points
Examples of guardrail in a Sentence
the car ran off the road, but fortunately only hit the guardrail
Recent Examples on the Web
Picture those guardrails operating at different levels and with different modes of implementation.
—
Mustafa Suleyman, WIRED, 6 Sep. 2023
Also, the guardrail is no longer necessary because speeds have been reduced on Carlsbad Boulevard, high-visibility pedestrian crossings have been installed, and additional traffic-control measures are planned.
—Phil Diehl, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Sep. 2023
Workers said Project Nimbus is the kind of lucrative contract that neglects ethical guardrails that outspoken members of Google’s workforce have demanded in recent years.
—Suhauna Hussain, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2023
Both groups want to put guardrails on the use of artificial intelligence.
—Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2023
As a further guardrail, SynthID has three confidence levels.
—Harry Guinness, Popular Science, 30 Aug. 2023
That failure illustrates a more general point: guardrails are more often the result of peace, not effective methods to maintain it.
—Michael Beckley, Foreign Affairs, 22 Aug. 2023
Compared with other widely spoken languages, English has few guardrails against the will of the masses.
—S.c. Cornell, The New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2023
While some popular generative AI tools contain guardrails to prevent the most egregious privacy violations, others don’t.
—Alice Marwick, WIRED, 24 Aug. 2023
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Mustafa Suleyman, WIRED, 6 Sep. 2023
Also, the guardrail is no longer necessary because speeds have been reduced on Carlsbad Boulevard, high-visibility pedestrian crossings have been installed, and additional traffic-control measures are planned.
—Phil Diehl, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Sep. 2023
Workers said Project Nimbus is the kind of lucrative contract that neglects ethical guardrails that outspoken members of Google’s workforce have demanded in recent years.
—Suhauna Hussain, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2023
Both groups want to put guardrails on the use of artificial intelligence.
—Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2023
As a further guardrail, SynthID has three confidence levels.
—Harry Guinness, Popular Science, 30 Aug. 2023
That failure illustrates a more general point: guardrails are more often the result of peace, not effective methods to maintain it.
—Michael Beckley, Foreign Affairs, 22 Aug. 2023
Compared with other widely spoken languages, English has few guardrails against the will of the masses.
—S.c. Cornell, The New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2023
While some popular generative AI tools contain guardrails to prevent the most egregious privacy violations, others don’t.
—Alice Marwick, WIRED, 24 Aug. 2023
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'guardrail.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1860, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near guardrail
Cite this Entry
“Guardrail.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guardrail. Accessed 25 Sep. 2023.
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Kids Definition
guardrail
noun
guard·rail
ˈgär-ˌdrāl
: a protective railing placed along dangerous areas (as of a road)
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