Meaning of reserve in English

reserve

verb [ T ]

/rɪˈzɝːv/ uk

/rɪˈzɜːv/

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to keep something for a particular purpose or time:

I reserve Mondays for tidying my desk and answering letters.

These seats are reserved for the elderly and women with babies.

I reserve judgment on this issue (= I won't give an opinion on it now) until we have more information.

If you reserve something such as a seat on an aircraft or a table at a restaurant, you arrange for it to be kept for your use:

I reserved a double room at the Lamb Hotel.

[ + two objects ] If you get there early, reserve me a seat/reserve a seat for me.

More examplesFewer examples

I'm awfully sorry, but we've forgotten to reserve you a table.
Could I reserve two seats for tomorrow evening's performance?
I've come to collect my tickets - I reserved them by phone yesterday in the name of Tremin.
"Had you forgotten about our anniversary?" "Certainly not! I've reserved a table at Michel's restaurant for this evening."
The worst of her criticism was reserved for journalists, photographers and others of their ilk.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Keeping and storing things

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Making bookings & reservations

reserve

noun

/rɪˈzɝːv/ uk

/rɪˈzɜːv/

reserve noun (SHY BEHAVIOR)

[ U ]

the habit of not showing your feelings or thoughts:

I took her out for a drink and tried to break through her reserve.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Not being friendly

abrasive
abrasively
abrasiveness
abruptly
abruptness
aloof
flintily
forbidding
forbiddingly
freezingly
frigidity
gruff
offish
remote
remoteness
reserved
reservedly
saturnine
wintry
with friends like you, who needs enemies? idiom

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Not showing or feeling emotions

reserve noun (KEEPING)

C2 [ C or U ]

the act of keeping something or a supply of something until it is needed, or a supply that you keep:

She keeps a little money in reserve (= for use if and when needed).

The librarian has put the book on reserve for me (= will keep it for me when it becomes available).

We still have a reserve of food/food reserves in case of emergency.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Keeping and storing things

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reserve noun (SUPPLY)

[ plural ]

a supply of something such as money or fuel that you are not using, but that is available if you need it:

State reserves include a $1.3 billion "rainy day" fund set aside for emergencies.

Cash reserves on June 30 stood at about $950 million, giving them some protection against future shocks.

Maybe, when the Earth's oil reserves finally run dry, we'll all get back on our bikes.

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Interest & capital

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Giving, providing and supplying

reserve noun (AREA OF LAND)

B2 [ C ]

(also reservation); (US also preserve)

an area of land kept in its natural state, especially for wild animals to live in and be protected:

a nature/game/wildlife reserve

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Zoology: zoos & wildlife reserves

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reserve noun (EXTRA PERSON)

[ C ]

in sports, an extra player who is ready to play if needed:

We had two reserves in case anyone was injured.

the reserves [ plural ]

a soccer team consisting of players who are not in the first team, but who play in a league against reserve teams from other clubs:

Frank was a prolific scorer for the reserves before he graduated to the first team.

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Competitors & participants in sports & games

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Replacing and exchanging

the reserves [ plural ]

a group of people who are not permanently in the armed forces but are used only if needed:

call up the reserves They will call up the reserves.

reserve noun (DOUBT)

[ U ] formal

a feeling of doubt about someone or something:

I can recommend him to you without reserve.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Suspecting & questioning

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reserve noun (LOWEST PRICE)

[ C usually singular ]

(also reserve price)

the lowest amount of money the owners will accept for something being sold, especially at auction (= public sale):

A rare Stradivarius violin failed to reach its reserve price (= no one offered to pay it) when put up for auction on Tuesday.

We set/put a reserve of €500 on the picture.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Costs & expenses

admission charge
aliment
all in
at cost
at the cost of something/doing something
bank charges
overrun
palimony
price point
pricing
punchy
redress
remittance
RPI
spend
ticket
transfer fee
tune
upkeep
whack

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(Definition of reserve from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

reserve | Intermediate English

reserve

verb [ I/T ]

/rɪˈzɜrv/

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to keep something for a particular purpose or time:

[ T ] He reserved the right to veto any future plans.

If you reserve something such as a table in a restaurant or a room in a hotel, you arrange for it to be kept for your use at a later time:

[ I ] It’s a popular restaurant, and you’ll have to reserve well in advance.

[ T ] I’m sorry, this seat is reserved.

reserve

noun [ C/U ]

/rɪˈzɜrv/

something kept for a particular purpose or time, or the state of being kept for future use by someone:

[ C ] I have a reserve of food in case of emergency.

[ U ] The book is on reserve and can’t be checked out.

She keeps a little money in reserve (= for use if and when needed).

A reserve (also (also preserve)) is also an area of land kept for the protection of animals and plants:

[ C ] a nature/game reserve

The reserves are a part of a country’s armed forces that are not always on active duty but are available in an emergency.

(Definition of reserve from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

reserve | Business English

reserve

verb [ T ]

/rɪˈzɜːv/ us

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to keep something for a particular purpose or time:

reserve sth for sb/sth The plan would reserve $1 billion for "long-term capacity improvements".

COMMERCE

to arrange for something to be kept for you, for example, a seat on an aircraft or a table at a restaurant:

He's reserved a table for 8pm.

reserve the right to do sth

to state, especially in a written agreement, that you may change something in the future:

I reserve the right to disagree to any future changes in the company structure.

reserve judgement

to not decide on something immediately:

I thought I'd reserve judgement until he'd finished his presentation.

reserve

noun

/rɪˈzɜːv/ us

[ C ]

a supply of something that you have available to use if you need to:

You will need a reasonable reserve of cash to start the process.

coal/oil/fuel reserves

in reserve

kept in order to use later if needed:

They do not have money in reserve like many of the bigger companies.

Land should be kept in reserve at the airport for a second runway which could be built by the mid-2020s.

[ C ] COMMERCE

(also reserve price)

the lowest amount of money that the owner will accept for something that is being sold, especially at an auction:

I set the reserve price at $50 in the hope that it would sell for much more.

reserves [ plural ]

BANKING, FINANCE

the amount of foreign currency or gold that a central bank has at a particular time:

It has around 8bn dollars in foreign currency reserves.

No country has limitless reserves of gold.

ACCOUNTING

money kept by a company for a particular use, for example, a future project or emergency:

use/dip into reserves It became necessary for the company to dip into its reserves.

cash/money reserves

See also

bank reserves
capitalization of reserves
cash reserves
foreign exchange reserves
hidden reserves
legal reserves
proven reserves

(Definition of reserve from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of reserve

reserve

We reserve the right to permanently block any user who violates these terms and conditions.

From Philly.com

And we reserve the right to change these rules at any time.

From The Atlantic

You can reserve the cooking water and use it to thicken soups or stews.

From Plain Dealer

The occupied reserve, a valuable tourist attraction for the area, is closed to recreators.

From ThinkProgress

We're wiping out a lot of reserves and surpluses, because we need to make up that revenue.

From The Star-Ledger - NJ.com

He is one of the top 5 people with the most gold reserves in the world.

From CNN

But that doesn't mean their third-grade reading scores will be used to reserve prison beds.

From OregonLive.com

Parents say they'd like to reserve the right to decide what vaccinations their children should get, and when.

From The Star-Ledger - NJ.com

What's interesting is that the yuan is not a popular reserve currency.

From NPR

I reserve my heart to embrace the human heart and let the brain work on the issues.

From OregonLive.com

Select seating is reserved for the event and tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for children 12 and under.

From Plain Dealer

They reserved the right to do so later before presenting the defense's case.

From Dallas Morning News

They continue to be willing to spend a huge amount of reserves to ensure that.

From Bloomberg

The land of international banking holds 1,040.1 tonnes of gold, which represents 7.8% of its reserves.

From USA TODAY

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with reserve

reserve

These are words often used in combination with reserve.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

adequate reserve

Then, what is an adequate reserve?

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

ample reserve

The maximum penalties prescribed by law are heavy, and the courts, have an ample reserve of power to deal with the most serious cases.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

army reserve

They are not in any sense an army reserve have.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

See all collocations with reserve

What is the pronunciation of reserve?

Translations of reserve

in Chinese (Traditional)

把…專門留給, 把…留作, 保留…

in Chinese (Simplified)

把…专门留给, 把…留作, 保留…

in Spanish

reservar, reserva, guardar…

in Portuguese

reservar, reserva, reserva [feminine]…

in more languages

in Marathi

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in Catalan

in Dutch

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in Gujarati

in Danish

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in Malay

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in Urdu

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in Italian

राखून ठेवणे, राखीव निधी - एखादी गोष्ट किंवा एखाद्या गोष्टीचा पुरवठा राखून ठेवण्याची क्रिया किंवा पुरवठा, अभयारण्य…

～を予約する, ～を確保する, （使わずに）取っておく…

ayırmak, tahsis etmek, rezerve yapmak/etmek…

réserver, réserves [feminine, plural]…

reservar, reserva…

reserveren, reserve, reservaat…

ஒரு குறிப்பிட்ட நோக்கத்திற்காக அல்லது நேரத்திற்கு ஏதாவது வைத்திருக்க, ஒரு விமானத்தில் இருக்கை அல்லது ஒரு உணவகத்தில் மேஜை போன்ற ஒன்றை நீங்கள் முன்பதிவு செய்தால், அதை உங்கள் பயன்பாட்டிற்காக வைத்திருக்க ஏற்பாடு செய்கிறீர்கள்.…

अलग रखना, बचा रखना, आरक्षित रखना…

અનામત, આરક્ષિત કરવું, ભંડાર…

reservere, reserve, forråd…

reservera, reserv[förråd, -lager]…

menempah, dikhaskan, simpanan…

reservieren, die Reserve, das Reservat…

bestille, reservere, reserve [masculine]…

مخصوص کرنا, محفوظ رکرانا, محفوظ کرنا، ہونا…

замовляти заздалегідь, резервувати, запас…

резервировать, заказывать, предназначать…

ఒక నిర్దిష్ట ప్రయోజనం లేదా సమయం కోసం దేనినైనా ఉంచు, విమానంలో సీటు లేదా రెస్టారెంట్‌లో టేబుల్ వంటి వాటిని మీ ఉపయోగం కోసం ఉంచడానికి ఏర్పాట్లు చేయు, దేనినైనా లేదా ఏదైనా సరఫరా అవసరమైనంత వరకు ఉంచే చర్య లేదా మీరు ఉంచుకునే సరఫరా…

يَحْجِز, اِحْتِياطي, مَحمِيّة…

নির্দিষ্ট ঙ্কোনোো উদ্দেশ্যে সংরক্ষিত রাখা, সংরক্ষিত করে নেওয়া বা বুক করে নেওয়া, সংরক্ষণ…

rezervovat, zásoba, rezervace…

memesan, mencadangkan, simpanan…

จอง, สงวนไว้, สิ่งที่สำรองไว้…

đặt trước, dành cho, đồ dự trữ…