guardrail

noun

guard·​rail ˈgärd-ˌrāl How to pronounce guardrail (audio)
: a railing guarding usually against danger
especially : a barrier placed along the edge of a highway at dangerous points

Examples of guardrail in a Sentence

the car ran off the road, but fortunately only hit the guardrail
Recent Examples on the Web High-resolution image generator Stable Diffusion, developed by startup Stability AI, is claimed to have more than 10 million users and has guardrails installed to prevent explicit image creation and policies barring malicious use. Lydia Morrish, WIRED, 6 Mar. 2024 Florida’s Republican lawmakers are putting more guardrails on some of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ spending. Lawrence Mower, Miami Herald, 6 Mar. 2024 Threat actors can also use malicious prompts to extract confidential, sensitive and private information from AI systems, and therefore, appropriate guardrails need to be deployed. Perry Carpenter, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024 More importantly, Gemini’s problems show the weaknesses of today’s AI models and our ideas about how to put guardrails around them. Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 27 Feb. 2024 Legislators have been considering how to put guardrails around AI while making sure innovation is still encouraged. Journal Sentinel, 20 Feb. 2024 After the column ran, Microsoft gave Bing a lobotomy, neutralizing Sydney’s outbursts and installing new guardrails to prevent more unhinged behavior. Kevin Roose, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2024 However, there have since been major leaps forward in developing better guardrails for responsible AI use. Evgeny Popov, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024 Offering an open source model that shares some commonalities with its proprietary Gemini models may also open up new avenues for skilled attackers to overcome Gemini’s guardrails too. Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 21 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'guardrail.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1860, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of guardrail was in 1860

Dictionary Entries Near guardrail

Cite this Entry

“Guardrail.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guardrail. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

guardrail

noun
guard·​rail ˈgär-ˌdrāl How to pronounce guardrail (audio)
: a protective railing placed along dangerous areas (as of a road)
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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