guarded

1. 1
   adjective

   Cautious and restrained in what one says or reveals.

   Her guarded tone suggested she didn't trust the new manager.

   He remained guarded throughout the interview, offering little detail.

   Similarcautious, wary, reserved, careful, circumspect

   Oppositeopen, candid, frank, forthcoming

   Note

   Its favorite companion is optimism. Guarded optimism is hope held in check until the facts are in, the way employees might greet a new agreement reached by their union. An outlook can be guarded too. It compares with more and most (more guarded, most guarded), never with -er. The clinician's guarded prognosis is a specialized offshoot of this cautious sense.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of guard.

   Police guarded the courthouse entrance during the trial.

   She guarded the family secret for decades.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs, as with every regular verb. It is the simple past (police guarded the door) and the participle after have or be (had guarded, was guarded). The verb can also run without an object, as in guarded against fraud, where the idea is caution rather than protection. Placed before a noun, the participle shades into the "supervised" adjective.

3. 3
   adjective

   Watched over and kept under supervision.

   Visitors could enter the heavily guarded compound only with permission.

   The witness stayed in a guarded location until the trial ended.

   Similarprotected, patrolled, secure, watched

   Oppositeunprotected, undefended

4. 4
   adjective

   Of a patient's condition or outlook: uncertain but with a fair chance of recovery, requiring close monitoring because deterioration remains a real possibility.

   The surgeon described the patient's prognosis as guarded and ordered hourly checks.

   Her condition remained guarded overnight, so the team stayed close.

   Similaruncertain

   Note

   A clinician's word, and almost always a word about the prognosis. Doctors write of a guarded prognosis or say that the prognosis is guarded. It sits between hopeful and grim, so for a patient's family it signals that recovery is reasonable to hope for but not yet something to count on.

5. 5
   adjective

   Equipped with a protective fitting, such as a crossguard on a sword, a faceguard on a helmet, or a hatguard on a hat.

   The collector prized a guarded rapier whose crossguard was inlaid with silver.

   A guarded helm protected the soldier's face during the charge.

   Note

   In blazon, the formal language of heraldry, guarded behaves like the other participles that color part of a charge: it follows the charge and takes a tincture. A chapeau is "guarded ermine" in John Edwin Cussans's The Grammar of Heraldry (1866), and swords can be "guarded vert, hilted gules," with each fitting given its own color. It can also take with, as in a helmet "guarded with perpendicular bars."

Showing meanings only. Show all 5