guardrail

American

[gahrd-reyl] / ˈgɑrdˌreɪl /

noun

Also guardrailing. a protective railing, rail, railing, as along a road or stairway.
Railroads. a rail laid parallel to a track to prevent derailment or to keep derailed rolling stock from leaving the roadbed.

guardrail British

/ ˈɡɑːdˌreɪl /

noun

a railing at the side of a staircase, road, etc, as a safety barrier
Also called (Brit): checkrail. railways a short metal rail fitted to the inside of the main rail to provide additional support in keeping a train's wheels on the track

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of guardrail

First recorded in 1825–35; guard + rail ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“We expect a flat initial fiscal envelope, a continued focus on tech and public capex, and reactive guardrails for consumption and property—keeping reflation a slow burn,” MS said.

From The Wall Street Journal

“There is a lot of confusion on the red lines in this deal and essentially what is different between what OpenAI is now doing for the Pentagon vs. Anthropic’s proposal/guardrails,” Ives wrote.

From MarketWatch

In his view, OpenAI was seeking to accelerate AI without sufficient guardrails on its use.

From The Wall Street Journal

The feud goes beyond AI guardrails and revolves around the dream of the nascent technology’s future.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023