certainty
Americannoun
-
certainties
plural
-
the state of being certain.
- Synonyms:
- confidence, assurance, certitude
-
something certain; an assured fact.
- Synonyms:
- truth
idioms
noun
-
the condition of being certain
-
something established as certain or inevitable
-
without doubt
Synonym Usage
See belief.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of certainty
1250–1300; Middle English certeinte < Anglo-French, equivalent to certein certain + -te -ty 2
Explanation
A certainty is a sure thing, something we know is true or will happen without any doubt. Here's a certainty: One plus one is two. And here's another: The earth orbits the sun. The noun certainty comes from the Latin word certus, meaning "sure" or "fixed." Besides being something that is certain, the word can also refer to a state of mind, like the confidence you feel when you know something is completely true or right. For example, you might speak with certainty about your decision to move to the big city and pursue your dream of becoming a famous actor. (But that doesn't necessarily mean becoming a famous actor is a certainty.)
Vocabulary lists containing certainty
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:
"Today, we have no clear timetable, no certainty about what will change and no assurance about when families will finally see meaningful progress."
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
A separate June 2026 analysis of 45 studies involving 2,205 patients also documented improvements in pain and function, but judged the overall certainty of the evidence to be low or very low.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
You don’t want to retire if you’re worried about your long-term financial certainty, but you don’t want to retire into a vacuum, either.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
“When I’m out there telling the investors about our capital, I need to have certainty that it’s real and durable growth,” Jones said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
She does know, all at once and with great certainty, that she is quite alive, and quite alone.
From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate
There are no certainties but death and taxes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
AI systems produce probabilities, and people treat them as certainties.
From Salon ● May 12, 2026
City's win leaves them only two points behind the Gunners, who showed signs of creaking under pressure as they cast aside a two-goal lead to draw with relegation certainties Wolverhampton Wanderers in midweek.
From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2026
One of the more obscure certainties in life is that once you hit the age for required minimum distributions, which is now 73, you have to take them from your accounts that have pretax money.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 24, 2025
And yet none of his certainties was worth one hair of a woman’s head.
From "The Stranger" by Albert Camus
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
