adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Something that protects. British
2. 2
   A condom.

Adjective

1. 1
   Serving or intended to protect.

   "The fighter dropped into a protective stance."

2. 2
   Wishing to protect; defensive of somebody or something.

   "Mother bears are famously protective of their cubs."

Adjective

1. 1
   (usually followed by ‘of’) solicitously caring or mindful wordnet
2. 2
   intended or adapted to afford protection of some kind wordnet
3. 3
   showing care wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

carefulcustodialpreservativeprophylacticprotectingantifertility

Antonyms

All antonyms

unprotective

Example

More examples

"Man, too, has been given protective devices against extreme temperatures."

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin prōtēctīvus. By surface analysis, protect + ive.

Related phrases

overcurrent protective devicepersonal protective equipmentprotective briefsprotective custodyprotective orderprotective pantsprotective reactionself-protective

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.