conservation — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The act of preserving, guarding, or protecting; the keeping (of a thing) in a safe or entire state; preservation.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

2. Wise use of natural resources.

   Usage

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   • Uncountable

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   “My father had ideas about conservation long before the United States took it up.[…]You preserve water in times of flood and freshet to be used for power or for irrigation throughout the year. …”

3. The discipline concerned with protection of biodiversity, the environment, and natural resources

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   • Uncountable

4. Genes and associated characteristics of biological organisms that are unchanged by evolution, for example similar or identical nucleic acid sequences or proteins in different species descended from a common ancestor

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5. The protection and care of cultural heritage, including artwork and architecture, as well as historical and archaeological artifacts

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6. lack of change in a measurable property of an isolated physical system (conservation of energy, mass, momentum, electric charge, subatomic particles, and fundamental symmetries)

   Usage

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Noun

1. an occurrence of improvement by virtue of preventing loss or injury or other change

   Synonyms

   preservation

   Broader terms

   improvementbettermentadvance

2. the preservation and careful management of the environment and of natural resources

   Broader terms

   preservationsaving

3. (physics) the maintenance of a certain quantities unchanged during chemical reactions or physical transformations

   Broader terms

   principle