preservation

[prez-er-vey-shuhn]

noun

1. the act or process of keeping something in existence.

   The creation, stabilization, and preservation of quality long-term affordable housing is a critical step in maintaining a healthy community.

2. the act or process of keeping something safe from damage or deterioration.

   The facilities include air-conditioned storage vaults for optimum preservation of the historic film archive.

   The natural growth of population continuously presents problems for the preservation of the environment.

3. the process of preparing food or other perishables to resist spoilage or decomposition.

   Historic techniques of food preservation include drying, smoking, pickling, and salting.

Other Word Forms

• nonpreservation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of preservation¹

First recorded in 1400–50; from Medieval Latin praeservātion-, stem of praeservātio “a guarding,” equivalent to praeservāt-, stem of praeservāre + Latin -iō -ion ( def. ); preserve ( def. )

Example Sentences

Categories include multifamily construction, affordable housing construction, affordable housing preservation and construction of adaptive reuse projects, such as turning empty commercial buildings into housing.

From Los Angeles Times

The big push on preservation came in 2005 when Prof Yang and a small group of others formed a specialist study team.

From BBC

There has also been community involvement in the porpoise preservation push.

From BBC

The preservation of accents is also "really important" at a time when technology could homogenise them, she says.

From BBC

She co-founded the preservation association in response to the first proposal for The Pit: a contemporary design approved by the Planning Commission for the previous owners that she called “the ice box.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• care 
• conservancy 
• conservation 
• safeguarding www.thesaurus.com
• safety 
• security 
• storage