safe
Noun pluralsafes
Pluralsafes
- 1Not likely to cause harm or loss, or giving protection from it, as a place or shelter does.
Government bonds are considered a safe investment.
The surgeon assured them the procedure was completely safe.
UsageOften safe to + verb (safe to drink) or safe for someone (safe for children).
- 2Free from danger and out of reach of harm, or not at risk from a particular danger.
The hikers were finally safe after the rescue team reached them.
All passengers were reported safe after the emergency landing.
UsageUse safe from to name the danger (safe from the storm); safe and sound means unhurt.
- 3
- 4Certain; sure to happen, succeed, or be correct.
Given how often the trains run late, it's a safe bet we'll miss the first few minutes of the show.
The district has elected the same party for fifty years, so both sides treat it as a safe seat.
UsageMostly in set phrases: a safe bet, it's safe to say something is true, a safe seat in an election.
Note
Here safe means sure in a prediction, and it typically takes an infinitive: he's safe to be there. The construction can turn the ordinary meaning upside down. In William Hamilton Maxwell's Erin-go-Bragh, a man is "safe to be hanged," certain of the very harm the word normally denies. Emma Raymond Pitman's Florence Godfrey's Faith uses the gentler, everyday version.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- William Hamilton Maxwell wrote Erin-go-Bragh. en.wiktionary.org
- Erin-go-Bragh contains 'safe to be hanged', meaning certain to be hanged. en.wiktionary.org
- Emma Raymond Pitman's Florence Godfrey's Faith contains the everyday construction 'He's safe to be there'. en.wiktionary.org
- The first-publication year is 1882. en.wikisource.org
- 5Cautious in manner or judgment; inclined to avoid risk.
She's a safe investor who keeps most of her savings in bonds.
My grandfather is a slow, safe driver who never takes chances on the highway.
UsageUsually before a noun (a safe driver); play it safe means take no chances.
Similarcautious, careful, conservative, prudent, circumspect
Oppositereckless, rash, daring, adventurous
- 6Reliable; able to be trusted or depended on.
She's regarded as a safe pair of hands during difficult negotiations.
The almanac proved a safe guide to the planting seasons year after year.
UsageMost often in the set phrase a safe pair of hands, said of a person trusted with a task.
Similartrustworthy
Oppositeunreliable, untrustworthy
- 7Carefully and without danger; used especially when saying goodbye to someone who is about to drive or travel.
Thanks for coming over tonight, and drive safe out there on those icy roads.
She promised her dad she would ride safe and wear her helmet on the long bike trip.
Similarcarefully
Oppositerecklessly, carelessly
Note
A flat adverb: the plain adjective form standing where formal grammar expects safely. It belongs to friendly speech, above all the goodbye at the door or the end of a call (drive safe, travel safe), and it comes right after the verb. In formal writing, safely is the form to choose; safe there can read as a slip rather than warmth.
Less common meanings
- 8In baseball, having successfully reached or returned to a base without being put out.
The throw to first arrived late, and the batter was safe.
He dove back to the bag and was called safe on the pickoff attempt.
UsageUsually after be, called or ruled: the runner was called safe. The opposite is out.
Oppositeout
Note
Baseball's verdict word is the opposite of out. It covers three moments: a batter reaching first base, a runner advancing to the next base, and a runner getting back to the base he last occupied, as when a pickoff throw comes too late.
- 9
- 10To make something safe, especially by disarming, securing, or shutting it down.
Ground crews safe the rocket before anyone approaches the launch pad.
The bomb squad safed the device and carried it away for analysis.
UsageForms are safes, safing, safed; don't confuse safed (made harmless) with saved.
Similardisarm, secure, deactivate, defuse
Oppositearm
Note
In Rocky Raab's Mike Five Eight (2006), a crewman safes the rocket pods after landing. Erik Seedhouse's Interplanetary Outpost (2012) describes safing a spacecraft by purging its engines and shutting down systems. The object is usually something that could fire or run, and the job is to keep it from doing so when it should not.
- 11Great, cool, or awesome; an expression of approval, often used on its own as an exclamation.
The new track from that London crew is safe, everyone at school agrees.
'Cheers for sorting the tickets.' 'Safe, bruv.'
UsageOften said alone, as a reply to thanks or an offer: Safe, or Safe, man.
Similarawesome, cool, amazing, excellent, great
Note
In Roy Williams's Plays 1, a character explains irie with it: "yer cool, yer safe." Wicked and cool are its nearest equivalents.
- 12A slang term for a condom.
She'd better have an arsenal of Trojans in her purse just in case he wasn't carrying a safe in his back pocket.
1999, Rita Ciresi, Pink SlipNote
Slang for a condom, used freely in the plural: these "safes," a pack of safes. Context does the disambiguating. A safe carried in a back pocket can only be this, never the locked metal box. Rita Ciresi's Pink Slip (1998) sets it beside the brand name Trojans. Because it is slang, it belongs in casual speech.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Rita Ciresi wrote Pink Slip, which places 'a safe' beside 'Trojans'. en.wiktionary.org
- Pink Slip first appeared in 1998; 1999 is a later edition's year. en.wikipedia.org
- 13Of a verdict or conviction: supported by the evidence and unlikely to be overturned; most often encountered in the negative, as unsafe.
The Court of Appeal ruled that the conviction was safe despite the disputed identification evidence.
Fresh DNA results meant the verdict could no longer be regarded as safe.
Similarsound
Note
A term of British criminal law, said of convictions, and mostly met in the negative. A conviction may be called unsafe when the evidence will not bear it or when the trial was unfair, and the Court of Appeal quashes a conviction it declares unsafe. Notice the shift in meaning: the conviction is not safe for anyone; it is safe from being overturned.
- 14Lenient and easy-going, most often describing a teacher who is relaxed about rules, deadlines, or grading.
Mr. Alvarez is safe. He let us retake the quiz twice.
Everyone tries to get into Ms. Ortiz's class because she's so safe: no penalty for late homework, ever.
Similarlenient, easy-going, tolerant, merciful
Oppositestrict, harsh, intolerant
Note
Slang that turns leniency into praise. A teacher who is safe is easy-going and tolerant, the opposite of strict or harsh, and calling one safe is a compliment, not a complaint. It sits close to the all-purpose slang of approval, and like that use it belongs in casual talk rather than formal writing.
- 15A ventilated or refrigerated chest or closet used to protect stored food from insects and other animals.
She set the leftover roast in the safe on the back porch to cool overnight.
The other room was a kitchen, with an open fireplace, a safe, a dresser and a tin sink, with a tap from the tank outside.
1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of ConsentNote
A dated household word for a food cupboard, built to keep provisions from flies and vermin rather than from thieves. Norman Lindsay's Age of Consent (1938) lists one among the kitchen fixtures: an open fireplace, a safe, a dresser, a tin sink. In older fiction, it names kitchen furniture, not the strongbox for valuables.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- A food safe protects provisions from insects and vermin. en.wikipedia.org
- Norman Lindsay wrote Age of Consent. en.wikipedia.org
- Age of Consent was first published in 1938. openlibrary.org
- The novel lists a safe alongside an open fireplace, a dresser and a tin sink as kitchen furnishings. en.wiktionary.org
- In this household sense, safe denotes food-storage furniture rather than a strongbox. gutenberg.org
- 16A safety bicycle: the design with two equal-sized wheels and a chain drive that replaced the high-wheeled ordinary.
Note
A dated, colloquial name for a safety bicycle. Today it turns up mostly in older writing about cycling. Context matters here: a rider wheeling out his safe has nothing to do with locks or valuables.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Safe means a safety bicycle. gutenberg.org
- The first word is safety, which is itself attested as a bicycle noun. Merely dropping bicycle does not produce safe; the consulted sources do not establish the precise derivation of safe. en.wiktionary.org
- 17Of a programming language: type-safe, or more generally offering well-defined behavior even when a program contains errors.
- 18Of an object ball in snooker: lying in a position from which it is difficult to pot.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of safe apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
This word came through Middle English and Old French from Latin salvus ("whole, safe"), which traces back to Proto-Italic and a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "whole, every." It displaced the Old English word sicor ("secure, sure").
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Safe came through Middle English and Old French from Latin salvus. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin salvus meant “whole, safe.” en.wiktionary.org
- Salvus traces through Proto-Italic to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning “whole, every.” en.wiktionary.org
- Safe displaced Old English sicor, meaning “secure, sure.” en.wiktionary.org
- Sicor was an Old English word ultimately borrowed from Latin sēcūrus through Proto-West Germanic *sikur; removing “native” avoids misrepresenting its origin. en.wiktionary.org