1Fixed or fastened so as not to give way, become loose, or be lost.

1. 1.1 Not subject to threat; certain to remain or continue safe and unharmed.
   they are working to ensure that their market share remains secure against competition

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The V40 diesel may be safe, secure and economical but its running gear goes nowhere near the sportiness department.
   • Collins had a secure place in the world of bookselling.
   • One set of City workers who are relatively secure is employees in debt departments.
   • Of course it would be a marriage of convenience, though you'd be financially secure for life.
   • Poverty is experienced by people without secure homes and stable employment, plus limited access to health, services and education.
   • They can really look after a player and make sure his future is secure.
   • Unionists need to be reassured that their right to maintain a meaningful British identity and allegiance will remain secure.
   • Gualtero was making sure that their tent was secure against any gusts.
   • Her part of the process, for now at least, seems secure.
   • I want a safe and secure corner, an old barrel, some wood to burn in it and a warm pair of hands to hold on to.
   • In their lives after Everest, their reputations as decent, honest individuals remain secure.
   • Marriage affords a secure environment for children, who do better in married households.
   • By focusing on a niche, a company becomes so specialised to the needs of a very small part of the market that it is secure against competition.
   • Consequently Albert's place on the throne seems secure for many years to come.
   • They could be critical and convey bad news, knowing that their jobs would remain secure.
   • The Democrats did not have a secure lock on the Irish vote.
   • Oswald suggests that this is because the relationship feels less secure than a first marriage.
   • The ultimate test as to whether a pinnacle is safe and secure is to test it to destruction.
   • Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.
   • Safe, secure handling from start to finish in difficult conditions

   Synonyms

   certain, assured, reliable, dependable, settled, fixed, established, solid, sound
2. 1.2 Protected against attack or other criminal activity.
   the official said that no airport could be totally secure

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Remote PC offers secure remote access to your desktop from anywhere with an internet connection.
   • Only about 80 miles of the border is protected by secure fencing today.
   • And yet, despite the real and manufactured fears, Britain still seems secure.
   • A state-of-the-art security system will be installed to ensure safe and secure shopping for local people.
   • Logs ideally should be written to a very secure central log server.
   • If Microsoft can't keep your Passport data secure, then your online identify can be compromised.
   • Tonight, insurgents target U.S. and Iraqi officials inside one of the most secure military bases in Iraq.
   • The material is being held in secure conditions behind a steel door which is guarded by closed circuit television.
   • I expect the locks will keep my house reasonably secure.
   • The priority for any business firm should be secure transactions.
   • We refuse to trade secure tenancies and affordable rents for new bathrooms and kitchens.
   • Subsequently, the other side also deployed nuclear weapons in quantity and made them relatively secure from attack.
   • In Kabul, aid money, private investment and a relatively secure environment have sparked a boom.
   • Europe is safer and more secure than ever before.
   • He has made our nation less secure, less safe, and less free.
   • Though the bank was looted, the vault miraculously remained secure.
   • The challenge for e-marketers is to convince the general population and firms that all transactions and information are secure.
   • The secure business communications firm Vordel has a new global sales director.
   • The aim is to provide a secure environment for the conduct of online transactions.
3. 1.3 (of a place of detention) having provisions against the escape of inmates.
   a secure unit for youthful offenders

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The focus has instead switched to juveniles and the lack of secure places for hardcore young offenders.
   • There is a need for secure place of detentions when people are on remand.
   • Although the hospital takes ‘sectioned’ as well as voluntary patients, it is not a secure hospital and none of the wards is locked.
   • Once arrested, he was locked in the Tower of London - England's most feared and secure prison.
   • It would simply remain a secure prison for him until she was able to notify the police of his whereabouts.
   • A paranoid schizophrenic who preyed on young schoolgirls is to be locked up indefinitely at a secure mental health hospital.
4. 1.4 Feeling safe, stable, and free from fear or anxiety.
   everyone needs to have a home and to feel secure and wanted

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Off to sleep I'd drift, feeling safe and secure knowing that my parents really did love me.
   • She was secure in the knowledge that she had a permanent home there.
   • Sure I could seem secure and confident, but perhaps I am not or perhaps I just am.
   • He was capable of doing anything and suddenly she was in fear of this man, yet felt secure and confident at the same time.
   • Some will fare better than others when the kudos are handed out, but all will be secure in the knowledge that they gave it their best shot.
   • He needs to be secure in the knowledge that his Mommy and Daddy are in charge.
   • Along with the past they have shared, they are secure in the knowledge that whatever lies ahead, they will face it together.
   • See, I may come across as secure and confident or whatever, but in reality, I have a love-hate relationships with my sexuality.
   • Clients must feel secure in confiding their secrets and entrusting their most personal affairs to lawyers.
   • If the piece is good you can be secure in the knowledge that the value will probably go up.
   • Now secure in the knowledge that all would be well, Henry managed a final smile of contentment.
   • The client must be secure in the knowledge that the lawyer will neither disclose nor take advantage of these revelations.
   • "You cling to the concepts of the spiritual world so you can feel more secure.
   • Secure attachment gave children the courage to explore, and exploration allowed for new experiences.
   • Or maybe he's merely confident his future's secure at Melbourne.
   • The client feels much more in control, and is secure in the knowledge that he isn't being taken advantage of.
   • When we become secure in the knowledge that we can do very good things, then change can happen.
   • Now he has struck a funding deal with the government for the next six years, he feels secure.
   • Hence we may look with some confidence to a secure future of equally inappreciable length.
   • You are urged to make your love relationship secure by cultivating smooth intellectual rapport.

   Synonyms

   protected from danger, protected from harm, free from danger, sheltered, shielded, guarded, unharmed, undamaged, safe and sound, safe, out of harm's way, in a safe place, in safe hands, invulnerable, immune, impregnable, unassailable
5. 1.5secure ofdated predicative Feeling no doubts about attaining; certain to achieve.
   she remained poised and complacent, secure of admiration

1Fix or attach (something) firmly so that it cannot be moved or lost.

1. 1.1 Make (a door or container) hard to open; fasten or lock.
   doors are likely to be well secured at night

   Example sentencesExamples

   • I asked her as soon as she'd shut and secured the door.
   • On liveaboard boats, cabin doors should be secured either open or shut when at sea.
   • The stern ramp was deliberately left open for access, but all external hull doors were secured closed.
   • Klaiman secures the doors open with hook-and-eye fasteners.
   • Both doors were secured with a large heavy duty pad lock.
   • Together, the three of them slammed the steel door shut and secured the locks.
   • Hurriedly inserting the right key in the lock, she secured the doors.
   • He secured the door behind him and locked it and began a walk.
   • The thief used a hammer to pry open a padlock securing a door on the cabin and removed an empty cash box.
   • They had allegedly left Masiye unattended and failed to secure the back door of the ambulance.
   • Summer wasn't surprised to find the door locked and secured.
   • Charlton lowered the steel shutters over the store windows, secured the back door, and locked the cash register.
   • The door can then be secured with a good, strong padlock.
   • He kindly directed me into the cab and secured the door shut behind me.
   • Bolt cutters were used to snap chains and locks securing the fuel tank.
   • At that point, the milling about became such that it was important to get downstairs behind cipher locks and secure doors.
   • A few seconds longer and the three of them were back inside the farmhouse with the front door locked and secure.
   • I took my keys out of my pocket, and applied them to the locks securing the door.
   • Security guards stand firmly as they secure locks and tell frequent customers like me to leave.
   • Paul boarded the carriage, secured the door after him, and had the driver proceed to their home.

   Synonyms

   fasten, close, shut, lock, bolt, chain, seal, board up
2. 1.2 Protect against threats; make safe.
   the government is concerned to secure the economy against too much foreign ownership

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The United States has every right to protect itself, to secure itself.
   • The system also has to be secured against external threat.
   • Council officers moved in today to secure the property.
   • As the Rangers landed they split up into their individual weapons teams and moved quickly to secure the area.
   • Commandos will also move quickly to secure the oil wells.
   • They secured the checkpoint and moved into the hallway.

   Synonyms

   protect, make safe, make sound, make invulnerable, make immune, make impregnable, fortify, strengthen, shelter, shield, guard

   assure, ensure, insure, guarantee, warrant, protect, indemnify, confirm, establish
3. 1.3 Capture (a person or animal)
   the suspect is secured and in the back of a patrol car

   Example sentencesExamples

   • His hands wrapped around her arms, securing her in a vice grip.
   • Again she was secured to the chair and given the drug.
   • He was secured to a metal slab in a room that he recognized, but something was different.
   • And I returned to another bedroom and he was already secured there by the bed.
   • Once our deputies found him, they secured him.
4. 1.4 Succeed in obtaining (something), especially with difficulty.
   the division secured a major contract

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Mr Richardson said the company had secured distribution agreements that gave its brands a strong presence in Britain and America.
   • He said the case showed the dangers of the Government's campaign to secure more convictions for rape.
   • They would have to forget politics and be fully behind any move that could secure their release.
   • Difficulties in securing convictions in the Irish courts increase that frustration even further.
   • His side then secured victory off the last ball of the game with nine wickets down.
   • Politicians make compromises and trade-offs to secure what is in their view the best for their constituents.
   • But now two motorists have succeeded in securing a refund.
   • Small furniture makers face the greatest difficulty securing supplies.
   • Campaigners demanding Davis's head claim they have already secured more than the 900,000 signatures they need.
   • Knock Airport has finally secured funding to update its old fire engines.
   • Are you finding it harder to secure financing for your work?
   • A court order was secured to move the couple on December 7.
   • So Bonner and Gordon leaned on friends for loans, and eventually secured some funding from the BBC.
   • The Glaswegian came close to a third century break near the end, before O'Sullivan finally secured his expected victory.
   • Kevin and his team have already secured first-round funding.
   • Permission for reprinting must be secured from the publisher of the book or periodical from which the illustration is excerpted.
   • The club has to secure the finances to move forward.
   • This has created an immediate difficulty in securing supplies of particulate filters.
   • He also asked if there were any difficulties in securing the necessary funding from the Dept.
   • As the boats moved into the final sprint China had firmly secured number two position and was going after Poland.

   Synonyms

   obtain, acquire, gain, get, find, come by, pick up, procure, get possession of
5. 1.5 Seek to guarantee repayment of (a loan) by having a right to take possession of an asset in the event of nonpayment.
   a loan secured on your home

   Example sentencesExamples

   • What is more, consolidation loans are usually secured on property while credit cards are unsecured debt.
   • Beware of loans secured on your home - you could lose it!
   • While some clients have received some speculative funding for city centre offices, the bank would require the loan to be secured on another asset.
   • In consequence many bank and finance house loans secured by land mortgages are exempt from the controls of the Act.