secure

Meanings

Adjective

• Free from attack or danger; protected.
• Free from the danger of theft; safe.
• Free from the risk of eavesdropping, interception or discovery; secret.
• Free from anxiety or doubt; unafraid.
• Firm and not likely to fail; stable.
• Free from the risk of financial loss; reliable.
• Confident in opinion; not entertaining, or not having reason to entertain, doubt; certain; sure; commonly used with of.
• Overconfident; incautious; careless.
• Certain to be achieved or gained; assured.

Verb

• To make safe; to relieve from apprehensions of, or exposure to, danger; to guard; to protect.
• 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 make fast; to close or confine effectually; to render incapable of getting loose or escaping.
• To get possession of; to make oneself secure of; to acquire certainly.
• To plight or pledge.

Related

Opposite words

• insecure

Narrower meaning words

• fail-secure
• secure by design

Origin

• Borrowed from Latin securus ("of persons, free from care, quiet, easy; in a bad sense, careless, reckless; of things, tranquil, also free from danger, safe, secure"), from se- + cura; see cure. sure and the now obsolete or dialectal sicker.