certainty
Americannoun
plural
certainties-
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
Related Words
See belief.
Other Word Forms
- noncertainty noun
Etymology
Origin of certainty
1250–1300; Middle English certeinte < Anglo-French, equivalent to certein certain + -te -ty 2
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.
"We can't look back, all we can do is look to the future," said Jones, adding the UK government's investment brought "certainty, confidence and optimism".
From BBC
There’s a special kind of comfort in having a short list of meals you know, with almost mathematical certainty, will land.
From Salon
“Long-term planning for a product that won’t be ready for years is already tough enough. We need the certainty of tariff-free trade for America’s only native spirit to flourish.”
Declaring certainty in either direction carries risks, but only one direction preserves the ability to update our understanding as evidence accumulates.
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
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.