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conserve

Pronunciation: /kənˈsəːv/

Translate conserve | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of conserve

verb

[with object]
  • protect (something, especially something of environmental or cultural importance) from harm or destruction:the funds raised will help conserve endangered meadowlands
  • prevent the wasteful overuse of (a resource):industry should conserve more water
  • Physics maintain (a quantity such as energy) at a constant overall total: the momentum of a system is conserved unless an external force acts on it
  • Biochemistry retain (a particular amino acid, nucleotide, or sequence of these) unchanged in different protein or DNA molecules: the adjacent sequence is conserved over large evolutionary distances (as adjective, with submodifier conserved)highly conserved regions of the protein
  • preserve (fruit) with sugar.

noun

Pronunciation: /also ˈkɒnsəːv/

[mass noun]
  • a preparation made by preserving fruit with sugar; jam or marmalade: pork tenderloin with onion and raisin conserve [count noun]:a delectable cherry conserve

Origin:

late Middle English: from Old French conserver (verb), conserve (noun), from Latin conservare 'to preserve', from con- 'together' + servare 'to keep'

conserve in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of conserve in the US English dictionary

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