secure

comparative securer · comparative more secure · superlative securest · superlative most secure · alternative obsolete secuer

1. Free from attack or danger; protected.

   1 more example

   The vast majority of American Jews not only greatly dislike President Trump but also believe he has made them less safe: according to a May 2019 poll, nearly three-quarters of Jewish voters believe American Jews are less secure under Trump than they were before, 71 percent disapprove of Trump’s overall job performance, and nearly 60 percent believe that he bears at least some responsibility for the synagogue shootings carried out by white nationalists in Pittsburgh and Poway.

   2020 March, Joshua Leifer, “Led Astray”, in The Baffler, number 50

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.

   1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   No sooner were we up there, than the old woman dragged the ladder, by which we had ascended, away with a chuckle, as if she was now secure that we could do no mischief, and sat herself down again once more, to doze and await her master's return.

   1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, The Grey Woman

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

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   Confidence then bore thee on, secure / Either to meet no danger, or to find / Matter of glorious trial.

   1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, 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 as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

8. obsoleteOverconfident; incautious; careless.

   They were secure where they ought to have been wary, and timorous where they might well have been secure.

   1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC

9. Certain to be achieved or gained; assured.

   Just when victory seemed secure, they let it slip from their grasp.

present singular third person secures · participle present securing · participle past secured · past secured · first person past singular secured · archaic present second person singular securest · past second person singular secured · archaic past second person singular securedst · present singular third person secures · archaic present singular third person secureth · past singular third person secured · past plural secured · past subjunctive secured · participle present securing · participle past secured · alternative obsolete secuer

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.

   1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

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

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   It secures its possessor of eternal happiness.

   1831, Thomas Dick, The Philosophy of Religion

3. To fix in place; 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

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   All springs for the engine and tender are of the laminated type with plates of carbon steel, which are secured in the spring buckles by a vertical centre rivet.

   1951 March, “British Railways Standard "Britannia" Class 4-6-2 Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 186

4. To get possession of; to make oneself secure of; to acquire certainly.

   to secure an estate

   4 more examples

   Her achievements have secured her place in the annals of our nation

   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.

   2014 August 26, Jamie Jackson, “Ángel di María says Manchester United were the ‘only club’ after Real”, in The Guardian

   [Captain] was able to secure some good photographs of the fortress.

   1911, Flight, page 766

   One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.” He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter III, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

5. obsoletetransitiveTo plight or pledge.