safe
/ˈsæɪ̯f/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.07 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Providing protection from danger; providing shelter.
adj
When a batter successfully reaches first base, or when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base or returns to the base he last occupied; not out.
adj
Not susceptible to a specified source of harm.
adj
Great, cool, awesome, respectable; a term of approbation, often as interjection.
British usage; Slang
Example Sentences
- "You’ll be safe from the storm here in the cabin."
- "It’s safe to eat this berry."
- "In fact, in presenting the home life of these people I have been at some pains to avoid the extreme of privation, taking the cases just as they came to hand on the safer middle-ground of average earnings."
- "When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. He had him gripped firmly by the arm, since he felt it was not safe to let him loose, and he had no immediate idea what to do with him."
- "Probably the safest and easiest 'tool' that you can use to get off your rusty-dusty and follow your choice of exercise routine."
- "We have to find a safe spot, where we can hide out until this is over."
Etymology
From Middle English sauf, safe, saf, saaf, from Old French sauf, saulf, salf (“safe”), from Latin salvus (“whole, safe”), from Proto-Italic *salawos, from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- (“whole, every”). Displaced Old English sicor (“secure, sure”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsæɪ̯f/
Usage
- British usage
- Slang
- Dated
- Colloquial
- Transitive verb
Inflected Forms
safer (comparative)
more safe (comparative)
safest (superlative)
most safe (superlative)
safes (plural)
safes (present, singular)
safing (participle, present)
safed (participle, past)
safed (past)