SAFE vs. SECURE

Good morning. I hope you had a good weekend.

Today we answer a question from one of our readers about the adjectives safe and secure. Here's Maria Jose's question:

Hello Matthew, I'm a Daily Vitamin user and I would like to ask you a question: What is the difference between "safe" and "secure"? Maybe you could tell us about it in one of your useful Daily Vitamins! Thank you very much in advance. Regards, Maria Jose.

Here are the official definitions, and some examples, of these words from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Meaning of Safe: protected from any danger or harm.

Example 1:
She doesn't feel safe living in her neighbourhood. There is a lot of violent crime there.

Meaning 1 of Secure: something that cannot be affected or harmed by something.

Example 2:
You need to store the information so that it is secure from accidental deletion.

This first meaning of secure is basically the same as the meaning of safe.

Meaning 2 of Secure: feeling happy and confident about yourself or a particular situation; likely to continue to be successful for a long time.

Example 3:
Since winning two million Euros in the lottery, she feels secure about her economic future.

As you can see, María José, these words are synonyms, but are sometimes used in slightly different situations. Although this is not a strict rule, we tend to use safe when referring to protection from physical harm, and secure when talking about more abstract things (our feelings, our future, digital information, etc.). However, in many contexts these words can be used interchangeably.  

Example 4:
I feel safe/secure in this home. It has a good alarm system and it's close to the police station.

Example 5:
You need to store the information so that it is secure/safe from accidental deletion.

However, example 3 sounds very strange with safe, because we say we feel secure about, but NOT safe about, a certain situation in the future.

Example 6:
**Since winning two million euros in the lottery, she feels safe about her economic future.** ???

I hope that helps María José. If not, please post a comment in the Daily Vitamin section on our website (www.ziggurat.es).

Have a great day.