asseverate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of asseverate
First recorded in 1785–95; < Latin assevērātus “spoken in earnest” (past participle of assevērāre ), equivalent to as- as- + sevēr- ( see severe) + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
To asseverate is to declare or affirm something with confidence and seriousness. When you asseverate, you're not just making a statement; you're saying it with such certainty that there's no room for confusion or doubt. The word comes from the Latin root that means "to affirm or maintain." When you asseverate, you speak with conviction. It's like planting your feet and saying, "This is how it is — no doubt about it!" A witness who gives their testimony in the courtroom may asseverate in order to let everyone know that they are telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Vocabulary lists containing asseverate
The Turn of the Screw
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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:
Why merely say something, when they can declare, assert, expostulate, announce, or asseverate it?
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
—At this, the Boy suffered some Confusion, then to asseverate, My Tutor is deceased, Sir.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
No one appeared to think it worth while to asseverate the fact, for it was self-evident.
From Black Ivory by Pearson, Francis B.
He could hardly, for his confusion, asseverate the "Yes," when Rabette came running in with the almost unsuitably accented tidings, that the mother was coming.
From Titan: A Romance v. 1 (of 2) by Richter, Jean Paul Friedrich
What is the relative force of affirm and assert? asseverate? aver? assure?
From English Synonyms and Antonyms With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions by Fernald, James Champlin
In the Daily Mail in 2007, Humphrys asseverated that “vandals” who use “grotesque abbreviations” in their text messages are “pillaging our punctuation; savaging our sentences; raping our vocabulary”.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 25, 2016
Sometimes, Ms. Silveri asseverated, “ ‘she said’ is just the very best way to say that.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 29, 2015
Senator Smoot, Chairman of the Finance Committee, has asseverated his opinion that there will be enough votes to pass the bonus over a veto.
From Time Magazine Archive
The President," he asseverated, "is in fine fettle and he is a fine fellow.
From Time Magazine Archive
Wilhelm asseverated loudly, that he meant not to persuade, but to convince: he begged for another moment's patience.
From Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Travels, Vol. I (of 2) by Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
So off they went in a body to the manager and demanded his instant dismissal, loudly asseverating that they would no longer eat, drink, or work in company with such a monster.
From Asbestos Its production and use, with some account of the asbestos mines of Canada by Jones, Robert H.
"Yes, you did," cry I, passionately, asseverating what I have so lately and passionately denied.
From Nancy by Broughton, Rhoda
Note how your captains of industry are asseverating that factories in the North must cut wages in order to compete with those that have gone South.
From The Hindered Hand or, The Reign of the Repressionist by Bell, Robert E.
"Don't be alarmed, don't be alarmed; I'm not mad, by God, I'm not mad," the captain kept asseverating excitedly.
From The Possessed (The Devils) by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
Now they have uprisen, and, asseverating that classical education is a pricked bubble, ask boldly for expensive apparatus and a larger tract of space in the time-table.
From The Lighter Side of School Life by Hay, Ian
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.
