Synonym Chooser

How is the word protect different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of protect are defend, guard, safeguard, and shield. While all these words mean "to keep secure from danger or against attack," protect implies the use of something (such as a covering) as a bar to the admission or impact of what may attack or injure.

a hard hat to protect your head

When is defend a more appropriate choice than protect?

The words defend and protect can be used in similar contexts, but defend denotes warding off actual or threatened attack.

defend the country

When is it sensible to use guard instead of protect?

In some situations, the words guard and protect are roughly equivalent. However, guard implies protecting with vigilance and force against expected danger.

White House entrances are well guarded

When can safeguard be used instead of protect?

Although the words safeguard and protect have much in common, safeguard implies taking precautionary protective measures against merely possible danger.

our civil liberties must be safeguarded

When would shield be a good substitute for protect?

While in some cases nearly identical to protect, shield suggests protective intervention in imminent danger or actual attack.

shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of protect The Air Force Lifecycle Management Center also moved to protect the intellectual property, filing a patent application in June 2023. Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 12 Sep. 2025 Those are the things worth protecting and passing onto the next generation. Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 Sep. 2025 The microwave filter is crucial for protecting your microwave's internal parts from gunk getting stuck or the fans from overheating. Daley Quinn, Southern Living, 12 Sep. 2025 Forbes is protected by reCAPTCHA, and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Ollie Barder, Forbes.com, 12 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for protect
Recent Examples of Synonyms for protect
Verb
  • Tesla spent years defending, ultimately successfully, its 2016 acquisition of Solar City, Musk’s struggling clean-energy company.
    Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Acosta defended the deal with Epstein in a news conference four days after the multi-millionaire's arrest.
    James Hill, ABC News, 15 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • This safeguards regulatory adherence while ensuring fair market competition between domestic and imported products.
    Nish Acharya, Forbes.com, 12 Sep. 2025
  • Advertisement Advertisement Yet, the decades-long effort to secure passage of the VRA offers pragmatic wisdom for safeguarding—and even extending—the gains enshrined by the law.
    Time, Time, 12 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Demerzel shields the embryo with her body, and both are incinerated, vanishing in a white-hot instant, love and code consumed together.
    JP Mangalindan, Time, 12 Sep. 2025
  • This consistency, Nassau argues, shields founders from the reputational hit of a prior lead refusing to participate in follow-ons.
    Lyssanoel Frater, USA Today, 12 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The result is an erosion of individual agency and a system that guards access rather than broadens it.
    Anmol Verma, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
  • This conversation should always be open, hones, and not guarded or ashamed.
    Taylor Lane, Flow Space, 10 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Protect.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/protect. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on protect

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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