# conservative

Pronunciation: say "kuhn-SUR-vuh-tiv" US /kənˈsɝvətɪv/, UK /kənˈsɜːvətɪv/

## Adjective

1. Favoring fiscal, political or social conservatism, or some mix of the three.
   - Simple: Holding traditional views about government spending, politics, society, or a mix of them.
   - _The bill drew support from conservative lawmakers who wanted to cut federal spending._
   - _She writes for a conservative magazine based in Calgary._
3. Connected with Britain's Conservative Party, its members, or its policies. *(British)*
   - Simple: Having to do with the Conservative Party in Britain.
   - _Several Conservative MPs rebelled against the government over the new housing targets._
   - _The constituency has returned a Conservative member at every election for decades._
4. Cautious and moderate rather than bold or excessive.
   - Simple: Careful, and not using too much or going too far.
   - _He's a conservative driver who stays in the slow lane and never speeds._
   - _The team played a conservative game, protecting its lead rather than chasing more goals._
6. Inclined to resist change or innovation.
   - Simple: Not liking change or new ways of doing things.
   - _The hospital board was too conservative to approve the new scheduling system._
   - _Fans of the band are surprisingly conservative and complain whenever it changes its sound._
7. Worked out cautiously, erring on the safe side: usually kept low, but high where underestimating is the risk, as with costs.
   - Simple: Worked out carefully to be on the safe side, so the number is usually on the low side.
   - _Conservative estimates put the crowd at forty thousand, though organizers claimed far more._
   - _Using conservative assumptions about sales, the company still expects a profit next year._
8. Conventional, traditional and understated in style and appearance, with nothing extreme, excessive, trendy or loud.
   - Simple: Of clothes or looks: plain and traditional, not wild, loud or trendy.
   - _For her interview at the bank, she chose a conservative navy suit, low heels and a single pair of small earrings._
   - _She kept her makeup conservative for the job interview._
9. Of medical treatment, avoiding surgery or other invasive or drastic measures.
   - Simple: Treating an injury or illness without an operation.
   - _The orthopedist recommended a conservative approach of bracing and physical therapy for the torn ligament._
   - _After six weeks of conservative treatment failed to relieve the pain, the surgeon scheduled an operation._
10. Belonging to or connected with Conservative Judaism.
   - Simple: Having to do with Conservative Judaism, one branch of the Jewish religion.
   - _She trained as a Conservative rabbi before taking a post in Chicago._
   - _The couple were married in a Conservative ceremony by a rabbi from their congregation._
12. Having changed little from an older form, especially compared with related languages or dialects.
   - Simple: Having changed only a little from an older form, compared with related languages.
   - _Linguists value the most conservative dialects because they preserve sounds lost elsewhere._
   - _Compared with its neighbors, the language is conservative in its grammar but innovative in its vocabulary._
13. Neither creating nor destroying a particular quantity, so that its total stays constant.
   - Simple: Keeping the total amount of something the same, without making or destroying any.
   - _Engineers modeled the spring as conservative, so the energy stored in it could be fully recovered._
   - _An ideal pendulum swinging without friction is a conservative system, trading kinetic and potential energy back and forth._
14. Able to preserve something whole and safe, or to protect it from loss, waste or injury.
   - Simple: Able to keep something safe and whole, or to stop it from being lost, wasted or hurt.

## Noun

2. Someone who works to preserve traditional values and institutions, especially in politics, sometimes in one area only, as a fiscal or social conservative.
   - Simple: A person who wants to keep traditional ideas and ways of doing things, especially in politics.
   - _A lifelong conservative, he defended the monarchy as the anchor of the nation's institutions._
   - _The senator has become a hero to conservatives who see marriage and religion under threat._
11. A person who generally prefers to keep existing conditions, habits or arrangements as they are rather than change them.
   - Simple: A person who likes things the way they are and does not want change.
   - _On the school board, she was a conservative who resisted every proposal to change the schedule._
   - _The museum's conservatives argued that the old galleries should be left exactly as they were._

## Noun · Conservative

5. A person who belongs to or backs a political party named the Conservative Party, especially the one in Britain or in Canada, usually written with a capital C. *(British, Canada)*
   - Simple: Someone who belongs to or supports a Conservative Party, for example in Britain or Canada.
   - _A Conservative since his student days, he later stood for Parliament in his home town._
   - _Opposition MPs attacked the Conservatives' plan to hand the struggling rail firm more public money._

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Of a vector field, expressible as the gradient of some function.

## Origin

Equivalent to conserve + -ative, it was borrowed from Middle French conservatif, which goes back to Latin cōnservō (“to preserve”).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/conservative (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).