conservative.
A person who favors maintenance of the status quo.
Meaning & usage
A person who favors maintenance of the status quo.
One who seeks to promote or preserve traditional values or institutions.
One who seeks to promote traditions in a particular domain (e.g. a fiscal conservative or a social conservative).
Where this word comes from
Borrowed from Middle French conservatif, from Latin cōnservō (“to preserve”). Equivalent to conserve + -ative.
Cautious, moderate.
The chef added a conservative amount of salt to the dish.
Tending to resist change or innovation.
The curriculum committee at this university is extremely conservative.
Based on pessimistic assumptions, and on the low side.
At a conservative estimate, growth may even be negative next year.
Supporting some combination of fiscal, political or social conservatism.
Relating to the Conservative Party.
Neither creating nor destroying a given quantity.
Having power to preserve in a safe or entire state, or from loss, waste, or injury; preservative.
Relating to Conservative Judaism.
Conventional, traditional, and moderate in style and appearance; not extreme, excessive, faddish, or intense.
Not including any operation or intervention (said of a treatment, see conservative treatment)
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.
That is the gradient of a function.
Where this word comes from
Borrowed from Middle French conservatif, from Latin cōnservō (“to preserve”). Equivalent to conserve + -ative.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.