conserved

1. 1
   adjective

   Protected from waste or loss; carefully kept so as not to be used up or destroyed.

   The conserved wetlands now shelter birds that had nearly disappeared from the valley.

   A conserved manuscript can survive centuries longer than one left to decay.

   Similarpreserved, protected, saved

   Oppositeneglected, wasted

   Note

   As an adjective it can be graded: one thing can be more conserved than another, or the most conserved of all. That suits its everyday use for resources spared by economy, where saving comes in amounts. Conserved gasoline in a hybrid car is the typical case, alongside protected land and objects. The comparison is formed with more and most, never with -er or -est.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of conserve.

   The museum conserved several fragile paintings before the exhibition.

   Over the years the trust has conserved thousands of acres of forest.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs here, as with any regular -ed verb. It is the plain past (the trust conserved the forest) and the participle after have or be (has conserved, was conserved). The object-taking meanings, saving for later and protecting a landscape or heritage, turn passive easily. The objectless meaning, remaining unchanged through a process, takes no passive. Placed before a noun, the participle becomes the adjective.

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