guardian
Pluralguardians
- 1A person who guards, watches over, or protects someone or something.
Many teachers see themselves as guardians of good grammar.
The old ranger had been the forest's guardian for thirty years.
Similarprotector, custodian, defender, keeper
Note
Warden is the same word arrived by another road: Middle English had both gardein and wardein, from Old French guardein and a verb of Germanic origin meaning to guard. In its broad sense it often takes of (guardians of propriety, of good grammar) and its partner is ward: in Stephen Fry's The Liar (1991), a moral guardian yearns for an immoral ward.
- 2A person who is legally responsible for a minor, acting in place of a parent.
After the accident, the court appointed her aunt as her legal guardian.
Parents or guardians must sign the permission form before the trip.
Note
The Latin tag in loco parentis, in the place of a parent, is the whole job description: schooling, health care and where the child lives become the guardian's decisions. The tie is temporary by nature, ending when the child comes of age, and on forms and notices the word travels in the pair parents or guardians.
- 3A person who is legally responsible for someone judged incompetent to manage their own affairs.
The court named his daughter as guardian after the stroke left him unable to manage his money.
Guardians of adults with severe dementia must report to the court every year.
Similarconservator
Note
Appointment usually follows a court hearing on the person's capacity, and the order can be narrow, reaching money alone, or broad, reaching health care and daily life as well. The title is the same one used for a child's legal guardian, so context, or a phrase such as guardians of adults, tells a reader which is meant.
- 4A member of the armed forces serving in the United States Space Force.
The young Guardian spent her first year at the base learning to track satellites.
More than a hundred Guardians stood in formation for the change-of-command ceremony.
Note
Each American service has its own name for its members (soldier, sailor, airman) and Guardian is the Space Force's. Used as that title it is capitalized, a Guardian or the Guardians at a base, which keeps it apart from the everyday word for a protector.
- 5A major or final enemy in a video game; a boss.
You can't reach the next stage until you beat the end-of-level guardian.
The final guardian has three forms, each harder than the last.
Similarboss
Note
Gamers use it alongside boss, sometimes in the same breath: Awesome Super Nintendo Secrets 2 (1993) promises the secret weak points of bosses/guardians. Its home phrase is end-of-level guardian, the enemy that blocks the way out of a stage; James Newman's Videogames (2004) has players trading tips on how to defeat one.
- 6A religious superior in a Franciscan monastery.
The friars elected a new guardian at their spring meeting.
As guardian, Brother Paul handled the house's accounts and welcomed its visitors.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of guardian apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
From Middle English gardein (also wardein, which became Modern English warden), from Old French guardein, from the verb guarder, of Germanic origin. It is a doublet of warden (compare French gardien), and on the surface it can be analysed as guard + -ian.