protective
Serving or intended to protect.
Example
“The fighter dropped into a protective stance.”
Other meanings
Wishing to protect; defensive of somebody or something.
“Mother bears are famously protective of their cubs.”
Related words
- cholangioprotective
- self-protective
- axoprotective
- canceroprotective
- carcinoprotective
- carioprotective
- dermatoprotective
- ecoprotective
- endothelioprotective
- enteroprotective
- fertoprotective
- fibroprotective
Word history
From Medieval Latin "prōtēctīvus".
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “protective” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.