save

save vb 1 deliver, redeem, *rescue, ransom, reclaim

Analogous words: *free, release, liberate, emancipate: *defend, protect, shield, guard, safeguard: *recover, retrieve, recoup, recruit

Antonyms: lose: waste: damn

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in theology

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2 Save, preserve, conserve can mean to keep free or secure from injury, decay, destruction, or loss.

Save may imply measures taken to protect something from danger of loss, injury, or destruction

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they had her in a Sunday-go-to-meeting dress . . . never washed or worn, just saved— Welty

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saved his papers in a vault

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he wavered around an atomistic explanation of the world, yet held fast to the Biblical Creation, to save his orthodoxy— H. O. Taylor

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but, more often, it suggests rescue or delivery from a dangerous situation (see under RESCUE).

Preserve stresses the idea of resistance to destructive agencies and hence implies the use of means to keep something in existence or intact

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old records are preserved by protecting them from light and moisture

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preserve food for winter use

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constitutions are intended to preserve practical and substantial rights, not to maintain theories— Justice Holmes

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there's nothing like routine and regularity for preserving one's peace of mind— Dahl

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Conserve, on the other hand, suggests keeping sound and unimpaired and implies the use of means to prevent unnecessary or excessive change, loss, or depletion

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a convalescent must conserve his energy if he is to make rapid progress

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our constitutional rights can be conserved only by an intelligent electorate

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the air is recirculated within the cabin in order to conserve heat— Armstrong

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sipped his coffee, made from his carefully conserved supply brought with him from England— Bambrick

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Analogous words: *have, hold, own, possess, enjoy: *keep, retain, reserve

Antonyms: spend: consume