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protector

nouncommon in dialogue

  • United Kingdom//pɹəˈtɛktə//
  • Canada//pɹəˈtɛktɚ//

Someone who protects or guards, by assignment or on their own initiative.

noun

  1. 1

    Someone who protects or guards, by assignment or on their own initiative.

    I stand before you in the spirit of pure public service — not as a protector of the status quo, but as an agent of change.

    They [the Lightners] were like Gods to us. Our protectors. Our creators. Those who gave us purpose... Then, one day we were all locked away in this prison... And the Lightners never returned.

  2. 2

    Someone who protects or guards, by assignment or on their own initiative. A headmate who primarily fronts, or otherwise protects the system, in situations where the system is at risk of psychological harm.

  3. 3

    A device or mechanism which is designed to protect.

  4. 4

    One who prevents interference.

  5. 5

    A state or other subject under international law, exercising a protectorate over another subject in international law.

  6. 6

    historicalOne having the care of the kingdom during the king's minority; a regent.

    My Lord Protector, ’tis his Highnes pleaſure, You do prepare to ride vnto S. Albons, / Where as the King and Queene do mean to Hawke.

  7. 7

    A cardinal, from one of the more considerable Roman Catholic nations, who looks after the interests of his people at Rome; also, a cardinal who has the same relation to a college, religious order, etc.

Etymology

From Middle English protectour, from Anglo-Norman protectour, protector and its etymon Latin prōtēctor, from prōtegō (“shield, protect”). By surface analysis, protect + -or. Displaced native Old English sċildend.

Forms

plural
protectors
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).