assure

American  

[uh-shoor, uh-shur] / əˈʃʊər, əˈʃɜr /

verb (used with object)

• assures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• assured,
  past participle,  past
• assuring
  present participle

1. to declare earnestly to; inform or tell positively; state with confidence to.

   She assured us that everything would turn out all right.

2. to cause to know surely; reassure.

   He assured himself that no one was left on the bus.

3. to pledge or promise; give surety of; guarantee.

   He was assured a job in the spring.

4. to make (a future event) sure; ensure.

   This contract assures the company's profit this month.

5. to secure or confirm; render safe or stable.

   to assure a person's position.

6. to give confidence to; encourage.

7. Chiefly British. to insure, as against loss.

---

assure British  

/ əˈʃʊə /

verb

1. to cause to feel sure or certain; convince

   to assure a person of one's love

2. to promise; guarantee

   he assured us that he would come

3. to state positively or with assurance

4. to make (an event) certain; ensure

5. to insure against loss, esp of life

6. property law another word for convey

---

Usage

What's the difference between assure, ensure, and insure? Assure usually means to tell someone something with confidence or to cause someone to know something with certainty—it often means the same thing as reassure. Ensure most commonly means to guarantee or make certain, as in Working hard ensures success. Insure typically means to guarantee against loss or harm or, more specifically, to cover with insurance. It’s no wonder there’s confusion between the three words—all three are verbs that are based on the Latin root sēcūrus, meaning safe. Making things even more confusing is the fact that ensure and insure can be used interchangeably in most senses. Still, insure is much more commonly used in the context of insurance, like car insurance, health insurance, and homeowner’s insurance. These kinds of insurance insure you—they give you coverage that provides you with compensation in certain cases and situations. Ensure is typically used in a more general way in the context of actions that are done to make sure that something happens or is the case, as in We need to ensure that the meeting starts on time. Assure is always used in the context of communication, especially in situations in which someone is trying to make someone else feel better about something. It’s used in the phrase rest assured. Here’s a quick cheat sheet to remember the most common uses of each word:assure = reassureensure = make sureinsure = cover with insuranceHere’s an example of assure, ensure, and insure used correctly in a sentence. Example: She assured me that the company has ensured that every employee has the opportunity to be insured. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between assure, ensure, and insure. 

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• assurer
  noun
• assuror
  noun
• interassure
  verb (used with object)
• preassure
  verb (used with object)
• assurable
  adjective
• unassuring
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• assuring
  present
• assured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• assure
  simple
• assures
  simple
• have assured
  perfect
• has assured
  perfect
• am assuring
  progressive
• are assuring
  progressive
• is assuring
  progressive
• have been assuring
  perfect progressive
• has been assuring
  perfect progressive

Past

• assured
  simple
• had assured
  perfect
• was assuring
  progressive
• were assuring
  progressive
• had been assuring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will assure
  simple
• will have assured
  perfect
• will be assuring
  progressive
• will have been assuring
  perfect progressive

---

Etymology

Origin of assure

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English as(e)uren, assuren, from Old French aseurer, from Late Latin assēcūrāre, from Latin as- as- + sēcūr(us) ( see secure) + -āre, infinitive suffix

---

Explanation

If you assure your boss that you’ll finish your project by Tuesday, you are making a promise or commitment to have it done by Tuesday. The verbs insure and ensure look and sound like assure but they aren't synonyms. There is some overlap in meaning — all of them can mean “to make secure or certain” — but assure is generally used in situations when you are referring to a person: “I assure you that I haven’t forgotten about driving you to the airport,” or “He called his mother to assure her that everything will be fine.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

assure assures assured assuring

Under state law, magistrates are to “impose the least onerous conditions” when deciding bail and should set bail “as low as the court determines is necessary” to assure the defendant returns to court.

From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026

In the end, he used a televised address to the nation on Sunday to call for national unity and to try to assure the French public that the perpetrators of the violence would be punished.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

“I cannot assure the committee, or you chair… that that is it,” Duff Gordon says in response to a question from the committee chair on whether further incidents should be expected.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

"And India, I can assure you, is preparing itself for this."

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

“Oh! yes, I observed it, I assure you. It was not lost on me. But still I cannot imagine she would not be persuaded.”

From "Emma" by Jane Austen

The move assures that Watt will call his first Super Bowl on Feb. 13, 2028, in Atlanta.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

“No taxpayer dollars were spent for the participation of Secretary Duffy’s family,” an opening title card assures us.

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026

It assures him of direct entry into the sport's biggest tournaments for the foreseeable future.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

Galindo assures potential clients, “I’m supportive of all identities and relationship styles so long as they honor the safety of the self & others, physically, emotionally, and otherwise <3.”

From Slate ● May 22, 2026

“Then we're with you all the way,” Pamela assures me, and Jordie and Sophie chime in their agreement.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman

For closer connections, the same level of accuracy could not always be assured.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez assured the affected families that "all branches of the state are working tirelessly... to try to give and provide the most information possible, as soon as possible, reliably."

From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026

Polymarket said in a statement after those X posts that it had fixed an issue related to a third-party vendor, and assured that traders who lost money would be “made whole.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

Australia - already assured of a semi-final place - have made several changes.

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026

Duane assured the fox that he would explain everything and that it might even make an entertaining story to tell while eating sorbets, tarts, and aplomb.

From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el

When the first case was announced, the authorities urged people not to panic, assuring them of heightened surveillance at airports and border crossings.

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026

It then tried to answer those queries pre-emptively, assuring the approximately 75,000 residents, for example, that it expects its data center would consume water at a similar rate to an office building.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Gundlach said those private-equity and private-credit firms keep assuring investors there are no problems, and their quarterly figures often won’t reveal any issues.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

"We are working hard to restore access to these important features as quickly as possible," he wrote, assuring that the company was working "to make Discord safer for teens."

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

I nodded, assuring him that I wouldn’t tell Mom.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• confirm
• ensure
• guarantee
• insure
• secure

---