# assert

Pronunciation: say "uh-SURT" US /əˈsɝt/, UK /əˈsɜːt/

## Verb

1. To state something firmly and confidently, declaring it to be true.
   - Simple: To say something firmly, as if you are sure it is true.
   - _The witness asserted that she had seen the whole accident._
   - _Critics assert that the new policy will harm small businesses._
2. To insist firmly on one's rights or opinions, refusing to be dismissed or overlooked.
   - Simple: To stand up for yourself, your rights, or your ideas so others take you seriously.
   - _New managers often struggle to assert themselves with older staff._
   - _He finally asserted himself and refused to be talked over._
3. To maintain or defend a cause, claim, or right through words or actions.
   - Simple: To defend a claim or right with words or actions.
   - _The company moved quickly to assert its patent rights in court._
   - _Coastal nations asserted their claims over the disputed fishing grounds._
4. To exercise a power, right, or quality, and in doing so prove that it exists.
   - Simple: To use a power or right and so show that you really have it.
   - _The court's ruling allowed the state to assert its jurisdiction over the case._
   - _Through repeated victories, the team asserted its dominance in the league._
5. To declare that a condition must be true at a given point in source code, causing the program to fail if it is not.
   - Simple: To tell a program that something must be true at a certain point, stopping it if not.
   - _Good programmers assert key assumptions so that bugs surface early._
   - _The function asserts that the pointer is not null before proceeding._
6. To set a signal on a line by applying a voltage or electric current to it.
   - Simple: To turn on a signal on a wire by using a small voltage or current.
   - _The processor asserts the interrupt line to request attention from the CPU._
   - _Once the buffer fills, the device must assert the ready signal._

## Noun

7. A statement in code declaring that a condition must hold, used as a safeguard against errors.
   - Simple: A check in code that says something must be true, used to catch mistakes.
   - _A failed assert pointed the team straight to the broken function._
   - _He scattered asserts throughout the module to verify each assumption._

## Origin

From Latin assertus, the perfect passive participle of asserō ("to declare someone free, protect, defend, or lay claim to, assert"), formed from ad ("to") plus serō ("to join, range in a row").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/assert (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).