secure
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /səˈkjʊə(ɹ)/, /səˈkjɔː(ɹ)/
  • (GA) IPA: /səˈkjʊɹ/, /səˈkjɝ/, /səˈkjɔɹ/
Adjective

secure (comparative securer, superlative securest)

  1. Free from attack or danger; protected.
  2. Free from the danger of theft; safe.
  3. Free from the risk of eavesdropping, interception or discovery; secret.
  4. Free from anxiety or doubt; unafraid.
    • But thou, secure of soul, unbent with woes.
  5. Firm and not likely to fail; stable.
  6. Free from the risk of financial loss; reliable.
  7. Confident in opinion; not entertaining, or not having reason to entertain, doubt; certain; sure; commonly used with of.
    secure of a welcome
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book 8”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:
      Confidence then bore thee on, secure / Either to meet no danger, or to find / Matter of glorious trial.
  8. (obsolete) Overconfident; incautious; careless.
Antonyms Related terms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

secure (secures, present participle securing; past and past participle secured)

  1. To make safe; to relieve from apprehensions of, or exposure to, danger; to guard; to protect.
    • I spread a cloud before the victor's sight, / Sustained the vanquished, and secured his flight.
  2. To put beyond hazard of losing or of not receiving; to make certain; to assure; frequently with against or from, or formerly with of.
    to secure a creditor against loss; to secure a debt by a mortgage
    • It secures its possessor of eternal happiness.
  3. To make fast; to close or confine effectually; to render incapable of getting loose or escaping.
    to secure a prisoner; to secure a door, or the hatches of a ship
  4. To get possession of; to make oneself secure of; to acquire certainly.
    to secure an estate
    • 2014, Jamie Jackson, "Ángel di María says Manchester United were the ‘only club’ after Real ↗", The Guardian, 26 August 2014:
      With the Argentinian secured United will step up their attempt to sign a midfielder and, possibly, a defender in the closing days of the transfer window. Juventus’s Arturo Vidal, Milan’s Nigel de Jong and Ajax’s Daley Blind, who is also a left-sided defensive player, are potential targets.
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To plight or pledge.
Translations


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