save

The word “save” means to rescue someone or something from harm or danger. In plain terms, to rescue, protect, set aside for later, or store — depending on context.

“Save” is pronounced sayv (/seɪv/ in IPA).

Here is “save” used in a sentence: “The lifeguard saved the swimmer from drowning.”

Depending on how it is used, “save” can be a verb, a noun and a preposition.

The word “save” comes from Late Latin. From Old French sauver, from Late Latin salvāre, "to save," related to Latin salvus, "safe.".

“Save” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

“Save” has 6 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: to rescue someone or something from harm or danger.

The two overlap, but rescue almost always means physically freeing someone from immediate danger, as in a rescue from a fire or flood. Save is broader: you can save a life, save money, or save a file. In the danger sense they are close synonyms, though rescue feels more urgent and hands-on.

Besides rescuing from harm, save has several everyday senses: to set money aside for later, to store computer data, to keep something for future use, and in sport, to stop a goal or point. All share the idea of preserving something, a life, money, data, or a score, from being lost.

It depends on the sense. When save means to rescue, its opposite is to endanger, abandon, or lose. When it means to keep money, the opposite is to spend or waste. The common thread is that saving preserves something, while its opposites risk it or use it up.

In the rescue sense: "The lifeguard saved a swimmer caught in the current." Other senses include "She saves fifty pounds a month," "Remember to save your document," and "The goalkeeper saved the penalty." Each one keeps something, a life, money, work, or a goal, from being lost.