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 Many firms are hiring executives with titles like chief AI officer to oversee the development and implementation of AI guardrails and policies. Byjohn Kell, Fortune, 20 Mar. 2024 Musk has systematically removed the guardrails the company had put in place to prevent hate speech on the platform and has welcomed back racists, antisemites, and transphobic posters who had been previously banned. David Gilbert, WIRED, 20 Mar. 2024 Its guardrails can even be broken using certain prompts that act like cheat codes, letting players roam otherwise inaccessible areas. Patrick House, The New Yorker, 19 Mar. 2024 They are focused on governance and controls, and guardrails and mitigating the unknown. TIME, 17 Mar. 2024 That, in turn, caused the semitruck to go through the guardrails and partially off the bridge. Matthew Glowicki, The Courier-Journal, 2 Mar. 2024 During the annual Producers Guild of America breakfast, Robbie was asked about any creative guardrails put in place by toy company Mattel over what Barbie could or could not say and do in the Warner Bros. feature. Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Feb. 2024 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

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 28 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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