asseverate

American  

[uh-sev-uh-rayt] / əˈsɛv əˌreɪt /

verb (used with object)

asseverated, asseverating

1. to declare earnestly or solemnly; affirm positively; aver.

   Synonyms:

   maintain, state, assert

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asseverate British  

/ əˈsɛvəˌreɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to assert or declare emphatically or solemnly

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Other Word Forms

• asseveration
  noun

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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

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

asseverate asseverated asseverating

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

As to whether she was young, middle-aged or only well-preserved, no one was in a position to asseverate.

From Anderson Crow, Detective by George Barr McCutcheon

You would, of course, asseverate your innocence——" "Of course I should.

From In the Onyx Lobby by Carolyn Wells

No one appeared to think it worth while to asseverate the fact, for it was self-evident.

From Black Ivory by Francis B. Pearson

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

Premier Herriot asseverated that there was no pact which in any way invalidated any provision of the Treaty of Versailles.

From Time Magazine Archive

Once again," he asseverated, "the Supreme Court has survived a real crisis in its existence.

From Time Magazine Archive

"He hasn't really been sick," she asseverated with what she knew, as she said it, to be wholly unnecessary emphasis.

From Running Sands by Reginald Wright Kauffman

The Governor broke off, annoyed to find himself asseverating for the second time so obvious a fact.

From The Hermit and the Wild Woman by Edith Wharton

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 Robert H. Jones

The speaker was a countryman, who appeared to have been asseverating something regarded by the rest of the company as greatly in need of confirmation.

From The Twilight of the Gods, and Other Tales by Richard Garnett

Are they to be summarily disposed of as resting upon some tacit assumption of that old-grannyism which delights in asseverating that times are not what they used to be?

From The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske

It was only by addressing his reason in repeated arguments, and by solemnly asseverating my entire fidelity, that I induced him to yield.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 71, September, 1863 by Various

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Related Words

• allege
• attest
• aver
• avow
• declare
• promise

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