Definition of "conservative"

A person who favors maintenance of the status quo.  quotations

1. (politics) One who opposes changes to the traditional institutions of their country.  examples

2. (US, politics) A person who favors decentralization of political power and disfavors interventionist foreign policy.  examples

3. (US, economics) A fiscal conservative.  examples

4. (US, social sciences) A social conservative.  examples

Cautious, moderate.  examples

Tending to resist change or innovation.  examples

Based on pessimistic assumptions.  examples

(US, economics, politics, social sciences) Supporting some combination of fiscal, political or social conservatism.  examples

(Britain, politics) Relating to the Conservative Party.  quotations  examples

(physics, not comparable) Neither creating nor destroying a given quantity.  examples

Having power to preserve in a safe or entire state, or from loss, waste, or injury; preservative.  examples

(Judaism) Relating to Conservative Judaism.  examples

(clothing) Conventional, traditional, and moderate in style and appearance; not extreme, excessive, faddish, or intense.  examples

(medicine) Not including any operation or intervention (said of a treatment, see conservative treatment)  quotations  examples