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
No one appeared to think it worth while to asseverate the fact, for it was self-evident.
From Black Ivory by Francis B. Pearson
I ain't afeard av the ball," he hastened to asseverate; "it's the kick av it that murthers me.
From Overland by J. W. (John William) De Forest
All this flashed through her mind with lightning rapidity while Mr. Dehnicke continued to asseverate his friendship for Walter, and look at her with his round eyes in undesirous adoration.
From The Song of Songs by Hermann Sudermann
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
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 other diplomats asseverated that they did not wish to interfere with the domestic affairs of France; but they prevaricated, intending nothing less than the complete restoration of the Bourbons.
From The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte Vol. IV. (of IV.) by William Milligan Sloane
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
Could we see as cogent a motive for asseverating his guilt as we find for his insisting upon his innocence, we should lend as much credence to the one as to the other.
From The Darrow Enigma by Melvin Linwood Severy
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 Ian Hay
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
"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 Fyodor Dostoyevsky
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.
