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Allin

saving

nounverbadjectiveprepositioncommon in dialogue

  • Canada//ˈseɪ.vɪŋ//
  • Australia//ˈsæɪ.vɪŋ//

A reduction in cost or expenditure.

noun

  1. 1

    A reduction in cost or expenditure.

    The shift of the supplier gave us a saving of 10 percent.

    This new yard will replace a group of out-of-date yards, and there will be an estimated net saving of £150,000 a year.

  2. 2

    Something (usually money) that is saved, particularly money that has been set aside for the future.

    I invested all my savings in gold.

    The collapse of Enron wiped out the life savings of many people, leaving them poor in their retirement.

    “Rather than writing off both jets as a loss … teams made a bold decision in 2022 to remove the nose from AF-27 and put it onto AF-211 to maximize savings and add back an operational aircraft to the fleet,” a report from the F-35 JPO said.

  3. 3

    The action of the verb to save.

  4. 4

    obsoleteException; reservation.

    saving and transitional provisions

    Tis Good Advice not to Contend with Thoſe that are too Strong for us, but ſtill with a ſaving to Honeſty and Juſtice, for the Integrity of the Mind must be ſupported againſt All Violence and Hazzards whatſoever.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *sl̥h₂-wós Proto-Italic *salawos Latin salvus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin salvō Latin salvāre Old French sauverbor. Middle English saven English save English -ing English saving From save + -ing.

verb

  1. 1

    Also a form of savepresent participle and gerund of save

adjective

  1. 1

    That saves someone from damnation; redemptive.

  2. 2

    Preserving; rescuing.

    He is the saving strength of his anointed.

  3. 3

    Thrifty; frugal.

    Hutchins has been a saving man all his life, and he has received good wages. Among his class he is regarded as wealthy. I daresay that he has five hundred pounds in the bank.

    Three of her bairns were drowned at sea, fishing off the Bervie braes they had been, but the fourth, the boy Cospatric, him that died the same day as the Old Queen, he was douce and saving and sensible, and set putting the estate to rights.

  4. 4

    Bringing back in returns or in receipts the sum expended; incurring no loss, though not gainful.

    a saving bargain

    The ship has made a saving voyage.

  5. 5

    Making reservation or exception.

    a saving clause

  6. 6

    Relating to making a saving.

    labour-saving

    energy-saving light bulbs

preposition

  1. 1

    Synonym of save (“except for”)

    And in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

  2. 2

    Without disrespect to.

    I should be ruled by the fiend, who, saving your reverence, is the devil himself.

    Saving your presence.

Forms

plural
savings
comparative
more saving
superlative
most saving
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).