life preserver

noun

"life-preserver" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“life preserver” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A buoyant ring or vest intended to keep a person afloat.

Corpus desk

Index EN-life-preserver · life preserver · English

life preserver · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 14 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "L" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for life preserver
PropertyValue
Headwordlife preserver
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “life preserver” in English

life preserverfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

life preserver is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for life preserver in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is life preserver, spelled L-I-F-E- -P-R-E-S-E-R-V-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A buoyant ring or vest intended to keep a person afloat.
  2. 2
    A short club with a weighted end.
  3. 3
    Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see life, preserver.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how life preserver appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Here's your crowbar / And your centre-bit; / Your life-preserver— / You may want to hit!
  2. But when I gave him every particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster, and took down a life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "life preserver"?
"life preserver" is spelled L-I-F-E- -P-R-E-S-E-R-V-E-R.
What does "life preserver" mean?
As a noun, "life preserver" means: A buoyant ring or vest intended to keep a person afloat.
What language does "life preserver" come from?
"life preserver" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list