DictionaryAI

assure

verb
uh-SHUUR/əˈʃʊɹ/UKuh-SHOOR/əˈʃʊə(ɹ)/

Formsassures, assuring, assured

4 meanings of assure

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To cause someone to feel confident that something can be trusted.

    The auditors assure shareholders that the accounts reflect the company's true position.

    She assured the committee that the data had been checked twice.

    Similarconvince, promise, reassure, persuade, satisfy

    Note

    The person comes first, and the confidence follows in one of two shapes: a that-clause (I assure you that the program will work) or of plus a noun (he assured her of his commitment). The Latin securus, "secure," is still audible here. You make someone feel safe about a claim, whereas the "make sure" meaning secures the outcome itself.

  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To make something certain and secure; to ensure that it comes about.

    Strict controls assure the quality of every batch leaving the factory.

    Careful budgeting assured the project's completion within the deadline.

    Similarensure, guarantee, secure, safeguard, insure

    Oppositejeopardize, endanger

    Note

    The core sense, and the one closest to the word's roots: Old French asseurer, from Latin ad- plus securus, "secure." To assure an outcome is literally to make it secure, which is why ensure sits beside it as a near-equivalent. The object is a thing or result, such as quality or completion, not a person. Once a person takes the object slot, the verb shifts to the confidence-giving meaning.

  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    To restore someone's confidence or calm after worry; to reassure them.

    He assured his nervous teammates moments before the final match began.

    Calm words from the captain assure the crew that the danger has passed.

    Similarreassure, comfort, calm, encourage, soothe

    Oppositealarm, worry, unsettle, frighten

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    verbobsolete
    To guarantee or pledge oneself to do something.
    That as a law for euer should endure; / Which to obserue in word of knights they did assure.
    1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
    Note

    A pledge sworn on honor, with no listener named. In Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590), knights "in word of knights they did assure" to keep a law forever. The verb takes a to-infinitive naming what will be done, a pattern later English hands to promise, pledge or undertake. Current use wants a hearer (assure someone that), so this construction now reads as a deliberate period effect.

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Origin

This comes from Old French asseurer (Modern French assurer), from Latin ad- plus securus ("secure"). It is related to Spanish asegurar and is a doublet of assecure.