Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use reserve in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Reserve means the act of reserving or keeping back; reservation; exception. Example: “The book is on reserve.”

Examples of reserve by meaning

nounThe act of reserving or keeping back; reservation; exception.

  • The book is on reserve.
  • I accept your view with one reserve.

nounA natural resource known to exist but not currently exploited.

  • New oil reserves are continuously being discovered, but not as fast as the existing ones are running out.
  • If Alberta’s reserves are a carbon bomb, this global expansion of tar sands and oil shale exploitation amounts to an escalating emissions arms race, the unlocking of a subterranean cache of weapons of mass ecological destruction.2014 April 25, Martin Lukacs, “Canada becoming launch-pad of a global tar sands and oil shale frenzy”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 190...

nounA tract of land reserved, or set apart, for a particular purpose.

  • the Connecticut Reserve in Ohio was originally set apart for the school fund of Connecticut.
  • the Clergy Reserves in Canada are for the support of the clergy.

nounFunds kept on hand to meet planned or unplanned financial requirements.

  • Over the next 11 months, they would use their enormous cash reserves, cultural power, and momentum to push their products into homes across the world.2025 December 11, Charlie Campbell, Andrew R. Chow and Billy Perrigo, “The Architects of AI Are TIME’s 2025 Person of the Year”, in Time

nounAbsence of color or decoration; the state of being left plain.

  • Each is decorated with a simple disk in reserve and a band in reserve adorned with white dots.1973, Charles Kyrle Wilkinson, Nishapur: Pottery of the Early Islamic Period, New York, N.Y: Metropolitan Museum of Art, page 161

verbTo keep back; to retain.

  • We reserve the right to make modifications.
  • I will reserve judgment until I have actually read his book.
  • I reserve the right to change my mind.

verbTo keep in store for future or special use.

  • This cake is reserved for the guests!
  • Please reserve me a parking space if you can.

verbTo book in advance; to make a reservation for.

  • I reserved a table for us at the best restaurant in town.
  • Thanks for reserving us a room!

More sentences with reserve

  • The volunteers at the nature reserve meet up ever other Sunday to help its upkeep.From the entry volunteer
  • Committing half his reserves nearly three hours after the attack was too little, too late.From the entry too little, too late
  • Bidding did not reach the reserve price, so the lot was withdrawn.From the entry reserve price
  • Reserve the right to walk away at any time – or include a provision to that effect.From the entry to that effect
  • In C++, the new keyword reserves memory taken from the free store.From the entry free store
  • Our bank does a nightly sweep of accounts, to adjust the float so we stay within our reserves limit.From the entry float
  • After we leave the quarry, we intend to afforest the land and turn it into a nature reserve.From the entry afforest
  • Many game reserves are located in Africa. Most are open to the public, and tourists commonly take sightseeing safaris.From the entry game reserve
  • Those banks, they're big boys. They went into this deal with their eyes open. That's what reserve requirements are for.From the entry with one's eyes open
  • They still have forces in reserve.From the entry in reserve
  • You will observe that this is an open letter and we reserve the right to mention it to the judge should the matter come to trial.From the entry open
  • When money comes in, stablecoin operators can exercise how and when to buy reserves.2025 June 7, Katie Martin, “Why we should worry about the rise of stablecoins”, in FT Weekend (The Long View section), London: The…. From the entry redemption
  • The nation holds substantial oil reserves and about $24 trillion in mineral wealth.2025 November 4, Eric Levitz, “The most likely AI apocalypse: How artificial intelligence could be leading most humans into an inescapable…. From the entry resource curse
  • New technologies, for instance, and new buildings to replace the intolerable ones, and new reserves of money.2022 December 15, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in The Guardian. From the entry intolerable
  • A number of them have been “rewetted” and turned into visitor attractions and nature reserves.2022 October 4, Ed O’Loughlin, “Protecting the Peatlands of Ireland as Fuel Costs Skyrocket”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry rewet
  • Be sure to reserve your spot on the sign-in sheet 'cause the abattoirs get crazy busy.”2021 September 2, Sam Johnson & Chris Marcil, “The Cloak of Duplication” (1:58 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 3…. From the entry abattoir
  • A slush fund is a sum of money that is set aside as a reserve.[2021 June 28, Daniel Liberto, “Slush Fund”, in Investopedia. From the entry slush fund
  • "A'ight," he said, lapsing into the bro-speak he normally reserves for conversations with teammates.2017, Jen Lancaster, The Gatekeepers, Don Mills, O.N.: Harlequin Teen, →ISBN, page 55. From the entry brospeak
  • It was a big day for Essendon, with both senior and reserves teams reaching the Big Dance.2016, Mark Thompson, Bomber: The Whole Story: The Whole Story, Penguin Group Australia, →ISBN. From the entry big dance
  • In this case, the nation does not need to maintain a large scale of international reserve.2014, Jeffrey Yi-Lin Forrest, “International Reserves and Capital Flows”, in A Systems Perspective on Financial Systems (Communications in…. From the entry conversely
  • In this case, the nation will need more sufficient international reserve.2014, Jeffrey Yi-Lin Forrest, “International Reserves and Capital Flows”, in A Systems Perspective on Financial Systems (Communications in…. From the entry conversely
  • The original old Ordos lies on top of one-sixth of all the coal reserves of China.2012, Steve Cortés, Against the Herd, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 14. From the entry ordos
  • These kinds of variations are easily accommodated, as are reserve storage with forward picking systems.2012, Leon F. McGinnis, “An Object Oriented and Axiomatic Theory of Warehouse Design”, in Progress in Material Handling Research, United…. From the entry pick-to-carton
  • Discard the excess fat from the roasting pan but reserve some for making the pinçage.2011 September 13, The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), The Professional Chef, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 263. From the entry pinçage
  • Sleep-overs took on the kind of salivatory anticipation that most children reserve for Halloween .2009 January 4, Joshua Yaffa, “Forbidden Nonfruit”, in New York Times. From the entry salivatory

Meaning of reserve

  1. noun The act of reserving or keeping back; reservation; exception.
  2. noun Restraint of freedom in words or actions; backwardness; caution in personal behavior.
  3. noun A natural resource known to exist but not currently exploited.

Full definition of reserve

Questions about reserve in a sentence

How do you use reserve in a sentence?
Reserve is used as a noun and verb. For example: “The book is on reserve.”
What is a short sentence with reserve?
“The book is on reserve.”
What does reserve mean?
Reserve means the act of reserving or keeping back; reservation; exception.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: reserve (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use reserve in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/reserve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.