“Preserve” basically means to keep something as it is and protect it from harm or change.

Core meanings (simple)

  • To keep something in its original state or in good condition (preserve old buildings, culture, memories).
  • To protect from harm, loss, or danger (preserve peace, preserve life, preserve your reputation).
  • To stop something from decaying, especially food (preserve meat with salt, preserve fruit as jam).
  • As a noun, it can mean:
    • Sweet food made from fruit, like jams or jellies (fruit preserves).
* A protected area for nature or animals, like a nature preserve or game preserve.

* Something that is mostly for a certain group, like “football used to be the preserve of men.”

Tiny example story

Imagine you have an old family photo album.
You keep it in a dry, safe box so it doesn’t get damaged – you are preserving it.
If you cook strawberries with sugar and seal them in a jar, you’ve made strawberry preserves.
If a government sets aside a forest where it’s illegal to cut trees, that forest is a nature preserve.

In everyday use, if someone says “we need to preserve this,” they mean “let’s protect it and keep it from being lost or damaged.”

TL;DR: “Preserve” = keep, protect, and prevent loss or decay, whether it’s objects, food, nature, or even ideas like peace and reputation.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.