protect

To keep someone or something safe from harm or damage.

• This helmet protects your head.
• The fence protected our plants from animals.
• How can we protect the river from pollution?

How to use it: protect someone/something from something (This coat protects you from the cold.); protect someone/something against something (The vaccine protects children against the disease.)

Similar words: guard, defend, safeguard

Common phrases: protect someone, protect the environment, protect against something, protect from something