Shielded

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Guarded against potential risks or dangers while being obscured from observation or assessment, and provided with a protective element to mitigate threats or impacts
2. Covered or enveloped in a way that prevents injury or exposure to danger
3. Defended or kept safe from threats by a barrier or safeguard

Etymology: Shielded is the past tense and past participle of "shield", and the verb's most interesting story is that it arrived in English as two separate words that merged. The noun came first: Old English "scield" named the defensive plate carried in battle, and it descends from a Germanic word meaning something like a split board or a cut piece of wood, which fits the wooden shields of early warriors. The verb is a different matter. It comes from Old English "sċildan", meaning to protect, and in Middle English the verb was spelled "schilden". Over time the two forms converged, so that the verb now looks identical to the noun it was never originally derived from. Because of that merger, "shielded" can feel like a simple past of a word meaning "a piece of armour." Its real sense, to be kept from harm, was already established in the verb's Old English roots before the noun and verb were drawn together in form.

Synonyms: protected, defended, guarded, sheltered, secured

Antonyms: exposed, vulnerable, endangered, unprotected, threatened