conservative

From Middle French conservatif, from Latin cōnservō (“to preserve”). Equivalent to conserve +‎ -ative.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kənˈsɝvətɪv/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kənˈsɜːvətɪv/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧ser‧va‧tive

conservative (plural conservatives)

1. A person who favors maintenance of the status quo.

   Coordinate terms: moderate, liberal, progressive, libertarian, centrist, fascist, communist, socialist

   • 1999, Nicholas Walker, “The Reorientation of Critical Theory: Habermas”, in Simon Glemdinning, editor, The Edinburgh Encyclopedia of Continental Philosophy‎^[1], Routledge, →ISBN, page 489:

     During the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, this commitment brought him into frequent critical confrontation with entrenched forms of conservative thinking (in academic areas from history and social science to the more abstract domains of ethical and political philosophy), […]

   1. (politics) One who opposes changes to the traditional institutions of their country.
   2. (US, Canada, politics) A person who favors decentralization of political power and disfavors interventionist foreign policy.
   3. (US, Canada, economics) A fiscal conservative.
   4. (US, Canada, social sciences) A social conservative.

• traditionalist

• reactionary, small-c conservative

conservative (comparative more conservative, superlative most conservative)

1. Cautious, moderate.

   The chef added a conservative amount of salt to the dish.

2. Tending to resist change or innovation.

   The curriculum committee at this university is extremely conservative.

3. Based on pessimistic assumptions, and on the low side.

   At a conservative estimate, growth may even be negative next year.

4. (US, Canada, economics, politics, social sciences) Supporting some combination of fiscal, political or social conservatism.
5. (British, politics) Relating to the Conservative Party.
   • 1830, Quarterly Rev.:

     We have always been conscientiously attached to what is called the Tory, and which might with more propriety be called the Conservative, party.

6. (physics, not comparable) Neither creating nor destroying a given quantity.
7. Having power to preserve in a safe or entire state, or from loss, waste, or injury; preservative.
8. (Judaism) Relating to Conservative Judaism.
9. (clothing) Conventional, traditional, and moderate in style and appearance; not extreme, excessive, faddish, or intense.
10. (medicine) Not including any operation or intervention (said of a treatment, see conservative treatment)
    • 2000, G. Puddu et al., “Achilles Tendon Injuries”, in The Encyclopaedia of Sports Medicine, →ISBN, page 200:

      Operative treatment should be reserved for those patients in whom conservative treatment has failed and who are motivated with regard to sports.

11. (linguistics) Having few changes relative to an older form, especially in comparison to related varieties.

    While innovative in its verbal system, Sardinian is the most conservative Romance language in its vocabulary and phonology.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:conservative.

•   conservative on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• “conservative”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• conservative in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• “conservative”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• conversative

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.sɛʁ.va.tiv/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: conservatives

conservative

1. feminine singular of conservatif

conservative (comparative plus conservative, superlative le plus conservative)

1. conservative

conservative

1. feminine plural of conservativo

• conservatevi

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kon.ser.u̯aːˈtiː.u̯e/, [kõːs̠ɛru̯äːˈt̪iːu̯ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kon.ser.vaˈti.ve/, [konserväˈt̪iːve]

cōnservātīve

1. vocative masculine singular of cōnservātīvus

• conservative in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)