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

When we will prove nothing by deeds, then we make speeches, and when we are disobedient in act, then we asseverate with words of love and reverence.

From The Youth of the Great Elector by L. (Luise) Mühlbach

How wise was his nightly habit, as he settled himself in bed before falling asleep, to asseverate with a sigh of thankfulness that no man living was more contented and healthier than he!

From Apologia Diffidentis by O. M. (Ormonde Maddock) Dalton

They lacked a definite opinion to entertain and a cry to asseverate.

From In the Name of the Bodleian and Other Essays by Augustine Birrell

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

"There still is in this country," he asseverated, "too great grief, too many mourners, too many wounded men for us to tolerate that."

From Time Magazine Archive

"They weigh fourteen hundred, and over," he asseverated.

From Black Forest Village Stories by Berthold Auerbach

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

"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

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

Claiming culture, it is the crudest; asseverating its pre-eminence, it is the basest; denying all outside values and virtue, it is the narrowest.

From Strictly business: more stories of the four million by O. Henry

Georgie cried day and night, merely asseverating that she hated Joe, and loved Ma, and she wished people would let her alone.

From Saturday's Child by Kathleen Thompson Norris

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Related Words

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

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