guarantee
Americannoun
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guarantees
plural
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a promise or assurance, especially one in writing, that something is of specified quality, content, benefit, etc., or that it will perform satisfactorily for a given length of time.
a money-back guarantee.
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an assurance that another’s obligation will be fulfilled, or something presented as such security; guaranty.
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something that assures a particular outcome or condition.
Wealth is no guarantee of happiness.
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a person who gives a guarantee or guaranty; guarantor.
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a person to whom a guarantee is made.
verb (used with object)
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guarantees,
present (3rd person singular)
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guaranteed,
past participle, past
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guaranteeing
present participle
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to secure, as by giving or taking security.
A credit card guarantees your reservation at the hotel.
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to make oneself answerable for (something) on behalf of someone else who is primarily responsible.
to guarantee the fulfillment of a contract.
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to undertake to ensure for another, as rights or possessions.
The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.
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to serve as a warrant or guaranty for.
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to undertake to protect or indemnify.
to guarantee a person against loss.
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to undertake (to do something).
I will guarantee to prove every word I stated.
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to promise (usually followed by a clause as object).
I guarantee that I'll be there.
noun
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a formal assurance, esp in writing, that a product, service, etc, will meet certain standards or specifications
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law a promise, esp a collateral agreement, to answer for the debt, default, or miscarriage of another
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a person, company, etc, to whom a guarantee is made
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a person, company, etc, who gives a guarantee
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a person who acts as a guarantor
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something that makes a specified condition or outcome certain
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a variant spelling of guaranty
verb
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(also tr) to take responsibility for (someone else's debts, obligations, etc)
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to serve as a guarantee for
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to secure or furnish security for
a small deposit will guarantee any dress
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to undertake to protect or keep secure, as against injury, loss, etc
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to ensure
good planning will guarantee success
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(may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to promise or make certain
Usage
What does guarantee mean? A guarantee is a promise or assurance, especially one that is written or legally binding, that something is of a stated quality or will perform as stated, such as a guarantee that a car you purchase will operate correctly. A guarantee is also an assurance of a particular outcome or condition, as in Weather predictions are not guarantees. Weather often changes quickly. To guarantee something is to secure something, as a ticket guarantees entry to a movie showing. As well, to guarantee is to promise to do something, usually by signing a legally binding agreement, as in The company guaranteed me a job when I signed the contract. Example: I guarantee you will love your purchase and will give you a full refund if you don’t.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonguaranteenoun
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preguaranteenoun
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reguaranteenoun
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superguaranteenoun
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quasi-guaranteedadjective
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unguaranteedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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guaranteesimple
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guaranteessimple
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have guaranteedperfect
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has guaranteedperfect
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am guaranteeingprogressive
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are guaranteeingprogressive
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is guaranteeingprogressive
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have been guaranteeingperfect progressive
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has been guaranteeingperfect progressive
Past
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guaranteedsimple
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had guaranteedperfect
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was guaranteeingprogressive
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were guaranteeingprogressive
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had been guaranteeingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of guarantee
First recorded in 1670–80; alteration of guaranty
Explanation
To guarantee is to promise or to a make binding agreement. If a baseball player guarantees his team will win the World Series, he better not lead the league in strikeouts. Guarantee is a word that is both a noun and a verb: the noun means "a binding agreement" and the verb is the act of making that agreement. This word seems to have come from garante, the Spanish word for "protect" and it's related to the Old French word warrant, which means "to authorize." Today, we often come across guarantee in advertisements, and you might wonder how they might guarantee to make your social life better if your teeth are whiter!
Vocabulary lists containing guarantee
Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)
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Frindle
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"The Constitution"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Although past performance isn’t a guarantee of how things might play out in the future, analysts at BofA Global Research believe investors have been reacting to the wrong metric.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
In fact, Ireland became the first European nation to guarantee religious freedom to Jewish people in 1937, when the continental current was, shall we say, running in a different direction.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
LinkedIn asks recruiters to verify their identities, but Rodriguez says verification offers additional context and isn’t a guarantee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Officials wanted to guarantee "real, robust movies" that generate economic activity and put people back to work, he added.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
“Hard work doesn’t guarantee success, only no regrets,” Seven said automatically, reciting one of her parents’ favorite Ravenskillian sayings.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
Media law professor Frank LoMonte argued in 2018, “The First Amendment guarantees all Americans freedom to speak and publish without government interference.”
From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2026
I’m doing everything I can on the preventative-care and healthy-lifestyle front, but unfortunately there are no guarantees.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
Germany's finance minister on Monday met the UniCredit CEO to seek guarantees over the future of Commerzbank, as the Italian lender gears up to complete a takeover of its German rival.
From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026
His surname brings attention given his father's illustrious career, his fighting style guarantees excitement, and the story around him has rarely been anything other than compelling.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
“Yes, without guarantees, once free I could probably use my abilities to shed light on the location of your grandfather.”
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
In my fall preview item for this show, I wrote that the “production is all but guaranteed to be more enlivening than an evening spent surfing Netflix.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
When Parsons asked him what he would do if he could be guaranteed success, he confessed his dream of becoming a Broadway producer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
Always ask how future premium increases are handled: traditional long-term-care premiums are not necessarily guaranteed to remain static.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
The way things are going for Celtic you could almost have guaranteed a goal for Daniel Arzani, their former player who came and went in a blur of nothingness.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Next came legislation that guaranteed equal pay for equal work in public employment.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
“Since Oct. 7, there is no mechanism for guaranteeing the well-being of Palestinian citizens,” said Issam Younes, head of Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, a Palestinian rights organization.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026
And short of guaranteeing that someone gets slapped across the face every year, count on the Oscars to try to regain its distinction while courting viewers however possible.
From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026
It's not until 2030 that it seeks to achieve its mission of guaranteeing every young person a clear path to good jobs.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
The deal would add to Nvidia’s financial maneuvers to support the AI boom, including guaranteeing it will lease any unused computing capacity from cloud-computing player CoreWeave.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
When we say the search for life elsewhere is important, we are not guaranteeing that it will be easy to find—only that it is very much worth seeking.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
