Word.ws English Dictionary

save

/seɪv/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/sæɪv/

save verb: to help (somebody) to survive, or rescue (somebody or something) from harm.

Verb

save (third-person singular simple present saves, present participle saving, simple past and past participle saved)

  1. (transitive) To help (somebody) to survive, or rescue (somebody or something) from harm.
    • She was saved from drowning by a passer-by.
    • We were able to save a few of our possessions from the house fire.
  2. (transitive) To keep (something) safe; to safeguard.
    • Thou hast[…]quitted all to save / A world from utter loss.1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
    • IF IT SAVES JUST ONE LIFE
      You often hear a new policy or procedure justified by the specious idea that "If it saves the life of just one (insert here 'child' or 'American soldier'), it will be worth it." Well, maybe not. Maybe a closer look would show that the cost in time, money or inconvenience...2004, George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 132
  3. (transitive) To spare (somebody) from effort, or from something undesirable.
    • I'll save you / That labour, sir. All's now done.1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio)...
  4. (especially, transitive) To redeem or protect someone from eternal damnation.
    • Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
  5. (transitive) To catch or deflect (a shot at goal).
    • Chelsea's youngsters, who looked lively throughout, then combined for the second goal in the seventh minute. Romeu's shot was saved by Wolves goalkeeper Dorus de Vries but Piazon kept the ball alive and turned it back for an unmarked Bertrand to blast home.2012, Chelsea 6-0 Wolves
  6. (transitive) To preserve, as a relief pitcher, (a win of another pitcher's on one's team) by defending the lead held when the other pitcher left the game.
  7. (transitive) To store for future use.
    • Let's save the packaging in case we need to send the product back.
  8. (transitive) To conserve or prevent the wasting of.
    • Save electricity by turning off the lights when you leave the room.
    • An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-looking letter she was writing (heavily crossed ‘to save notepaper’) and enter into the delightful pastime of ‘a chicken from Mr Whiteley's’.1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part I, London: Collins, →ISBN
  9. (transitive) To obviate or make unnecessary.
    • Will you not speak to save a lady's blush?1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number)
  10. (intransitive, transitive) To write a file to disk or other storage medium.
    • Where did I save that document? I can't find it on the desktop.
    • You can only save your current session at the Presidential Seals scattererd throughout the game.2008, “Story Mode”, in Cory in the House: Instruction Booklet, Burbank, California: Disney Interactive Studios; Nintendo, page 9
  11. (intransitive) To economize or avoid waste.
  12. (intransitive, transitive) To accumulate money or valuables.
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (archaic, slang, transitive) To make an agreement to give (some amount of money) to a fellow gambler if one wins, and to receive that amount from them if they win, as a form of hedging.
    • to save a fiver
  2. (often, reflexive) To refrain from romantic or (especially in later use) sexual relationships until one is married or is with a suitable partner.
    • She told me she's saving herself for marriage.
    • Ryder: Come on—you two were intimate, right?
      Peebee: Take a wild guess. Why are people so hung up on sex? It's a natural expression of attraction.
      Peebee: We were doing exciting, daring, irreverent things. It stirs stuff up. Like shaking up a bottle of champagne, you know?
      Peebee: You should know...2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Tempest
  3. (informal) To avoid saying something.
    • Save your excuses and lies.
    • School days went by. I ran across Sly a couple a times, but I wasn't in no mood to talk. He could save all that philosophical bullshit he liked to holla. Didn't nobody need to tell me what was up.2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 206

Noun (1)

save (plural saves)

  1. An instance of preventing (further) harm or difficulty.
    • As 1942 began, work was now continuing apace on getting the ships back afloat and into dock. The first good news in this regard was West Virginia. Thanks to a combination of Tennessees unintentional save' and the crew's own efforts, she'd settled upright, and so divers estimated that, if the...2020 November 18, Drachinifel, 0:34 from the start, in The Salvage of Pearl Harbor Pt 2 - Up She Rises!, archived from the original on 22 Oct 2022
    • It is no coincidence that two of the four 'saves' on our tour connect with the early days of the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR), where restoration has also been helped by recent research that explains further why these saves are so significant.2025 February 5, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Railway heritage saved in 2024”, in RAIL, number 1028, page 53
    1. In various sports, a block that prevents an opponent from scoring.
      • The goaltender made a great save.
      • Wolves defender Ronald Zubar was slightly closer with his shot on the turn as he forced Pepe Reina, on his 200th Premier League appearance, into a low save.2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC
    2. A successful attempt by a relief pitcher to preserve the win of another pitcher on one's team.
      • Jones retired seven to earn the save.
    3. (slang) A point in a professional wrestling match when one or more wrestlers run to the ring to aid a fellow wrestler who is being beaten.
      • The giant wrestler continued to beat down his smaller opponent, until several wrestlers ran in for the save.
    4. (informal) An action that brings one back out of an awkward situation.
      • Nice save.
  2. The act, process, or result of saving data to a storage medium.
    • If you're hit by a power cut, you'll lose all of your changes since your last save.
    • The game console can store up to eight saves on a single cartridge.
  3. (roleplaying games) A saving throw.

Preposition

save

  1. Except; with the exception of.
    • Under the terms of the Interdict no church services and offices were to be permitted save the baptism of infants and the confession of the dying.2004, David Carpenter, The Penguin History of Britain: The Struggle for Mastery, Penguin Books

Conjunction

save

  1. Unless; except.
    • Only the parties may institute proceedings, save where the law shall provide otherwise.2009, Nicolas Brooke (translator), French Code of Civil Procedure in English 2008, Article 1 of Book One, quoted after: 2016, Laverne Jacobs and Sasha Baglay, The Nature of Inquisitorial Processes in...
    • Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp...1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III...

Proper noun capitalized: Save

Save

  1. A river in southeastern Africa that flows about 400 km (250 mi) from south of Harare in Zimbabwe, through Mozambique, to the Indian Ocean.
    • “I am from the Save River. But I married. To a man from afar, Phiri, from Malawi.”2018, Tsitsi Dangarembga, This Mournable Body, Faber & Faber (2020), page 232
    Synonyms:
    Sabi
  2. A river in southern France that flows about 143 km (89 mi) from the Pyrenees to the Garonne at Grenade.

Noun (2) capitalized: SAVE

SAVE (uncountable)

  1. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of synthetic attenuated viral engineering

save meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu

save in Hindi

to help someone to survive, or rescue someone
बचाना bacānā
computing: to write a file to a storage medium
सहेजना sahejnā

save in Tamil

to help someone to survive, or rescue someone
காப்பாற்று kāppāṟṟu
to conserve or prevent the wasting of
சேமி cēmi
computing: to write a file to a storage medium
சேமி cēmi

save in Urdu

to help someone to survive, or rescue someone
بچانا bacānā

save in Telugu

to help someone to survive, or rescue someone
రక్షించు rakṣiñcu, కాపాడు kāpāḍu
to store for future use
భద్రపరచు bhadraparacu
computing: to write a file to a storage medium
భద్రపరచు bhadraparacu
to economize
దాచుకొను dācukonu
More languagesFewer languages
save in Sanskrit
पिपर्ति piparti
save in Tagalog
isalba, tulungan, ipunin
save in Arabic
أَنْقَذَ ʔanqaḏa, أَنْجَى ʔanjā, نَجَّى najjā, اِدَّخَرَ iddaḵara
save in Malay
selamatkan, simpan
save in Indonesian
selamatkan, simpan, rekam, menghemat
save in Persian
نجات دادن nejât dâdan, ذخیره کردن zaxire kardan, پس انداز کردن
save in Thai
กู้ภัย gûu-pai, บันทึก ban-tʉ́k, เซฟ séep
save in Vietnamese
cứu, cứu nguy, giải thoát, bảo vệ
save in Myanmar
ကယ်ဆယ် kaihcai

Examples of save in a sentence

  • Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891:
  • However, we’ve reached the stage where our technological leaps and bounds no longer save us hours, or even minutes – they shave only seconds from our day-to-day tasks.2019 May 21, Dylan Curran, “Facial recognition will soon be everywhere. Are we prepared?”, in The Guardian:

All 40 example sentences with save

Synonyms of save

Forms of save

Verb
third-person singular presentsaves
present participlesaving
past participlesaved
pastsaved
second-person singular present (archaic)savest
second-person singular past (archaic)savedst
third-person singular present (archaic)saveth
Noun
pluralsaves

Past tense of save: saved

Plural of save: saves

Origin of save

From Middle English saven, sauven, a borrowing from Old French sauver, from Late Latin salvāre (“to save”). Displaced native Old English nerian.

Abbreviation.

Words formed from save

Phrases with save

7 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with save

29 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about save

What does save mean?
Save means to help (somebody) to survive, or rescue (somebody or something) from harm.
What is save in Hindi?
Save in Hindi is बचाना (bacānā), सहेजना (sahejnā). See Save meaning in Hindi.
How do you use save in a sentence?
Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.
What part of speech is save?
Save can be a verb, a noun, a preposition or a conjunction.
How do you pronounce save?
Save is pronounced /seɪv/ (UK).
What is the past tense of save?
The past tense of save is saved.

Words near save in the dictionary

  1. savasanas
  2. Savases
  3. Savastano
  4. Savastanos
  5. savate
  6. save
  7. save appearances
  8. save as
  9. save back
  10. save by the bell
  11. save down

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: save (page history and authors); Save (page history and authors); SAVE (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-save.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-save.wav.

Cite this entry: “save.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/save. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.