These words are concerned with attempts to keep something intact or to possess it in greater quantities. Conserve pertains to the wise use of a valuable item that one already has, with the suggestion that it will be difficult to replace once it has been used up; leaflets requesting citizens to conserve water during the growth; efforts to conserve forest land from the incursions of timber speculators. Preserve , on the other hand, emphasizes keeping something that is valuable exactly as it is, without change and, in some cases, even without using it at all. It suggests greater urgency and, in contrast to conserve , may suggest that the item in question is literally impossible to replace, once it is gone: proposals to preserve the house as it was when Poe lived in it; He was in favour of preserving the area as a wild life sanctuary.

Maintain and save relate somewhat like conserve and preserve . Maintain emphasizes careful use and replenishment of a quantity, like conserve , but it suggests that a steady routine of work will be enough to keep the item in its present state. Maintain , also, does not necessarily suggest something of great value; it can pertain to anything one wishes to keep in good working condition: We can maintain essential services by ensuring a steady flow of revenue; maintaining a house in good condition by an almost predictable annual outlay of time, effort and money. Save , on the other hand, is somewhat more like preserve , suggesting greater urgency and the irreplaceability of what might otherwise be lost. If anything, it is more urgent (and certainly more informal) than preserve , especially in its sense of rescue: action that narrowly saved the country from defeat. In an informal context, however, it can function exactly like the more formal conserve: saving water during the crisis. Where it is distinct from all the words so far discussed is in suggesting the accumulating of a quantity. Both conserve and preserve concentrate on what one already has; maintain emphasizes the taking in and giving out to keep an unchanging balance. Save , however, can suggest the adding of new quantities to what already exists: He was saving up money for a university education; As she grew older she took to saving bits of string she found in the street.

Store and hoard relate to this last meaning of save . Store suggests the piling up of goods that may be bulkier than those suggested by save ; but, as with save , the stored item may be valuable or worthless, may be stored for future use ?or for no purpose whatsoever: reservoirs in which to store water against periods of slight rainfall; storing his books with friends until he returned from Europe; She stored every flotsam relic of her life without ever looking at it again. Hoard gives an unpleasant picture of someone saving or storing valuables out of fear, greed or mental derangement: Everyone hoarded food during the famine; hoarding his money while living like a beggar.