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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List 9
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List 9
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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
"Wh-why, nobudy ever heard me talkin' things that's tol' in secret," Mike made haste to asseverate.
From The Lookout Man by B. M. Bower
If the Cardinal argued the case, the Prince would asseverate, after his manner, and some sort of result was sure to follow.
From Saracinesca by F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford
Let me however asseverate, from my abundance of experience in these cases, that there is ultimately, after a reasonable time, every hope of becoming sound and healthy again.
From Plain Talks on Avoided Subjects by Henry Newell Guernsey
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
Premier Herriot asseverated that there was no pact which in any way invalidated any provision of the Treaty of Versailles.
From Time Magazine Archive
"I wasn't raised in the woods, Hoskins, but there was plenty of tall timber near enough to save me from being scared by an owl," he asseverated.
From The King of Arcadia by Francis Lynde
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 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
She was there admonished to tell the whole truth, but persisted in asseverating that Sidonia had never learned from her how to make a love-drink.
From Sidonia, the Sorceress : the Supposed Destroyer of the Whole Reigning Ducal House of Pomerania — Volume 1 by Wilhelm Meinhold
Into every room they looked, the old woman asseverating denials that it was of no use, they might see for themselves, that no one had been there for years past.
From Love and Life An Old Story in Eighteenth Century Costume by Charlotte Mary Yonge
"Yes, you did," cry I, passionately, asseverating what I have so lately and passionately denied.
From Nancy by Rhoda Broughton
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.
