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Secure vs Fortify - What's the difference?

secure | fortify |

As verbs the difference between secure and fortify

is that secure is to make safe; to relieve from apprehensions of, or exposure to, danger; to guard; to protect while fortify is to increase the defenses of; to strengthen and secure by military works; to render defensible against an attack by hostile forces.

As an adjective secure

is free from attack or danger; protected.

secure

English

Alternative forms

* secuer (obsolete)

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Free from attack or danger; protected.
  • Free from the danger of theft; safe.
  • Free from the risk of eavesdropping, interception or discovery; secret.
  • Free from anxiety or doubt; unafraid.
  • * Dryden
  • But thou, secure of soul, unbent with woes.
  • Firm and not likely to fail; stable.
  • Free from the risk of financial loss; reliable.
  • Confident in opinion; not entertaining, or not having reason to entertain, doubt; certain; sure; commonly used with of .
  • secure of a welcome
  • * Milton
  • Confidence then bore thee on, secure / Either to meet no danger, or to find / Matter of glorious trial.
  • Overconfident; incautious; careless.
  • (Macaulay)

    Antonyms

    * insecure

    Derived terms

    * securely

    Verb

    (secur)
  • To make safe; to relieve from apprehensions of, or exposure to, danger; to guard; to protect.
  • * Dryden
  • I spread a cloud before the victor's sight, / Sustained the vanquished, and secured his flight.
  • To put beyond hazard of losing or of not receiving; to make certain; to assure; frequently with against'' or ''from'', or formerly with ''of .
  • to secure''' a creditor against loss; to '''secure a debt by a mortgage
  • * T. Dick
  • It secures its possessor of eternal happiness.
  • To make fast; to close or confine effectually; to render incapable of getting loose or escaping.
  • to secure''' a prisoner; to '''secure a door, or the hatches of a ship
  • To get possession of; to make oneself secure of; to acquire certainly.
  • to secure an estate
  • * 2014 , Jamie Jackson, " Ángel di María says Manchester United were the ‘only club’ after Real", The Guardian , 26 August 2014:
  • With the Argentinian secured United will step up their attempt to sign a midfielder and, possibly, a defender in the closing days of the transfer window. Juventus’s Arturo Vidal, Milan’s Nigel de Jong and Ajax’s Daley Blind, who is also a left-sided defensive player, are potential targets.
    "[Captain] was able to secure some good photographs of the fortress." (Flight, 1911, p. 766)
  • * , chapter=3
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.}}

    Anagrams

    * ----

    fortify

    English

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To increase the defenses of; to strengthen and secure by military works; to render defensible against an attack by hostile forces.
  • To impart strength or vigor to.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • Pride came to the aid of fancy, and both combined to fortify his resolution.
  • *
  • To increase the effectiveness of, as by additional ingredients.
  • * 1979 , Kiplinger's Personal Finance (volume 33, number 7, July 1979, page 47)
  • Compare the nutrition information label of a regular ready-to-eat fortified cereal with that of a presweetened brand and you'll note that, although the sweetened one's sugar content is higher, the fortification is virtually identical.