buffer

“Under certain circumstances, your home could potentially provide a buffer,” he said.

A partner can sometimes act as a much-needed buffer in strained family dynamics.

One former Treasury minister, Lord Bridges, told the Lords: "This is not a fiscal buffer; it is a fiscal wafer, so thin and fragile that it will snap at the slightest tap."

The Fed presidents provide an apolitical buffer because they aren’t political appointees and often have no partisan background.

Last year, the government planned for “headroom” of just 10 billion pounds, but that didn’t prove to be sufficient to provide a buffer against setbacks.