Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Conservative \Con*serv"a*tive\, a. [Cf. F. conservatif.]
   1. Having power to preserve in a safe of entire state, or
      from loss, waste, or injury; preservative.

Conservative \Con*serv"a*tive\, n.
   1. One who, or that which, preserves from ruin, injury,
      innovation, or radical change; a preserver; a conserver.

            The Holy Spirit is the great conservative of the new
            life.                                 --Jer. Taylor.

   2. One who desires to maintain existing institutions and
      customs; also, one who holds moderate opinions in
      politics; -- opposed to revolutionary or radical.

   3. (Eng. Hist.) A member of the Conservative party.

Source : WordNet®

conservative
     adj 1: resistant to change [ant: {liberal}]
     2: opposed to liberal reforms
     3: avoiding excess; "a conservative estimate" [syn: {cautious}]
     4: unimaginatively conventional; "a colorful character in the
        buttoned-down, dull-gray world of business"- Newsweek
        [syn: {button-down}, {buttoned-down}]
     5: conforming to the standards and conventions of the middle
        class; "a bourgeois mentality" [syn: {bourgeois}, {materialistic}]

conservative
     n : a person who has conservative ideas or opinions [syn: {conservativist}]
         [ant: {liberal}]