security
Pluralsecurities (some meanings)
- 1The steps and safeguards put in place to keep a person, building, country or computer system safe from attack, theft or spying.
The embassy stepped up security after the protests, adding guards and concrete barriers.
A flaw in the app's security let attackers read users' private messages.
UsageSecurity is tight or lax, and you tighten or step up security; single steps are security measures.
Similarprotection
- 2The condition of being free from threat, whether physical, emotional, financial, or psychological.
Financial security allowed them to retire without worry.
The treaty was meant to guarantee lasting security across the region.
UsageOften financial, job or national security, and for one's own security.
Oppositeinsecurity, danger, vulnerability, instability
Note
At root the word means being without care. Latin sēcūritās comes from sēcūrus, which joins sē- "without" to cūra "care"; a similar phrase, Latin sine cūrā, gave English sinecure. Here it is uncountable and applies to people and to nations alike, from a child comforted by a blanket to Swift's "Security for its Trade" in 1711.
- 3The department or organization responsible for enforcing rules and maintaining order to keep people and places safe.
Airport security screened every passenger before boarding.
Building security patrols the corridors throughout the night.
UsageUsually with no article: call security, work in security, airport security.
Similarguards
Note
The word also works as a modifier for the apparatus itself, as in security posts and fences at a port. In political writing it can stand for the whole machinery of control, set beside surveillance and intrusion and against liberty.
- 4A stock, bond, or other financial asset that can be bought and sold, or the certificate showing who owns it; usually plural.
The fund manager sold every risky security before the market dropped.
Government bonds are among the safest securities available.
UsagePlural securities works before nouns: securities firm, securities fraud. Property pledged for a loan is security, without -s.
Note
It covers instruments of different kinds: a stock is an ownership stake in a company, a bond is a creditor's claim, and options and other derivatives convey contractual rights. What unites them is that they can be traded. That is a different sense from property pledged against a loan, which is named for its role as a guarantee; securities can themselves be pledged that way.
- 5Freedom from fear or anxiety; a state of being untroubled by worry or dread.
The quiet town offered a sense of security he had never known in the city.
Growing up in a loving home gave her an inner security that carried her through hard times.
UsageUsually a sense of security or a feeling of security; a false sense of security is a common phrase.
Oppositeinsecurity, anxiety, fear, worry
Note
This meaning is about the state of mind: freedom from apprehension, the absence of fear. The absence of actual threat is a different thing. A person can be safe and still uneasy, or untroubled while in danger.
- 6Property or money pledged as a guarantee that a loan will be repaid or an obligation met, and that can be claimed if it is not.
He pledged his savings as security against the mortgage.
Without any property to offer as security, they were refused the loan.
UsageUsually as security for or against a loan; you offer or pledge something as security.
Similarpledge
Note
Borrowers pledge property or assets as security, and lenders can claim them if the loan is not repaid. It is the property-backed case of a guarantee, and it can secure other obligations too, not only repayment.
- 7
Less common meanings
- 8A guarantee or assurance that an obligation will be fulfilled.
The town would not sign the contract without security for its completion, so the builder got its insurer to guarantee the work.
With no assets to pledge, the young firm offered the bank the only security it had: a written promise from its owner to repay the loan personally.
Similarguarantee, assurance, warranty, surety
Note
A broader assurance, which can rest on a promise rather than on goods. Swift's Lilliputians "give Security to appropriate a certain Sum," and Macaulay's lenders trusted "no security but his bare word." Watch for the constructions give security to plus a verb and on no security but. English keeps a doublet from the same Latin source in surety, which still names a guarantee or a guarantor.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Security historically meant an assurance or guarantee. en.wiktionary.org
- Swift describes Lilliputians giving security to appropriate money; this illustrates give security to followed by a verb. en.wikisource.org
- Macaulay writes of lenders relying on someone's bare word, using on no security but. en.wikisource.org
- Surety and security are doublets ultimately derived from Latin securitas. en.wiktionary.org
- Surety can name a guarantee or a guarantor. en.wiktionary.org
- 9Carelessness or negligence, especially the heedlessness born of an overconfident sense of safety.
He means, my lord, that we are too remiss, Whilst Bolingbroke, through our security, Grows strong and great in substance and in power.
1595, William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”Note
The obsolete flip side of being without care, the root traced under the word's main meaning. To be free of worry could mean to be heedless. In Shakespeare, Bolingbroke "grows strong and great" through the king's party's "security," and the speaker glosses it as being "too remiss." Modern readers instinctively hear safety, but in older texts the word can mean complacency.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Security has an obsolete sense meaning carelessness or negligence. en.wiktionary.org
- Security ultimately derives from elements meaning without and care. en.wiktionary.org
- The Latin ancestor could mean both carefree and negligent, supporting the connection between freedom from worry and heedlessness. en.wiktionary.org
- In Shakespeare's Richard II, Aumerle says Bolingbroke grows strong through their security and describes their conduct as too remiss. gutenberg.org
Practice
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Origin
From secure plus -ity, coming through Middle English securite and Middle French securité from Latin sēcūritās, based on sēcūrus ("safe, secure"), itself from sē- ("without") and cūra ("care"). It is a doublet of surety.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Security is analyzable as secure plus -ity. en.wiktionary.org
- Security comes through Middle English securite and Middle French securité from Latin sēcūritās. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin sēcūritās derives from sēcūrus, meaning safe or secure. en.wiktionary.org
- Sēcūrus derives from sē-, meaning without, and cūra, meaning care. en.wiktionary.org
- Security and surety are doublets. en.wiktionary.org