ensure
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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(may take a clause as object) to make certain or sure; guarantee
this victory will ensure his happiness
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to make safe or secure; protect
Usage
What's the difference between ensure, insure, and assure? Ensure most commonly means to guarantee or make certain, as in Working hard ensures success. Insure typically means to guarantee against loss or harm or, more specifically, to cover with insurance. Assure usually means to tell someone something with confidence or to cause someone to know something with certainty—it often means the same thing as reassure. It’s no wonder there’s confusion between the three words—all three are verbs that are based on the Latin root sēcūrus, meaning safe. Making things even more confusing is the fact that ensure and insure can be used interchangeably in most senses. Still, insure is much more commonly used in the context of insurance, like car insurance, health insurance, and homeowner’s insurance. These kinds of insurance insure you—they give you coverage that provides you with compensation in certain cases and situations. Ensure is typically used in a more general way in the context of actions that are done to make sure that something happens or is the case, as in We need to ensure that the meeting starts on time. Assure is always used in the context of communication, especially in situations in which someone is trying to make someone else feel better about something. It’s used in the phrase rest assured. Here’s a quick cheat sheet to remember the most common uses of each word:ensure = make sureinsure = cover with insuranceassure = reassureHere’s an example of ensure, insure, and assure used correctly in a sentence. Example: She assured me that the company has ensured that every employee has the opportunity to be insured. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between ensure, insure, and assure.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ensuresimple
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ensuressimple
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have ensuredperfect
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has ensuredperfect
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am ensuringprogressive
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are ensuringprogressive
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is ensuringprogressive
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have been ensuringperfect progressive
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has been ensuringperfect progressive
Past
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ensuredsimple
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had ensuredperfect
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was ensuringprogressive
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were ensuringprogressive
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had been ensuringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ensure
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English ensuren, from Anglo-French enseurer; see en- 1 ( def. ), sure ( def. )
Explanation
When you ensure that something will happen, you guarantee it. All that homework will ensure that you have no time for fun this afternoon! Ensure comes from the Old French en- "make" plus seur "sure," and that is exactly what it means today - "to make sure or certain, to guarantee." If you ensure success or someone's safety, you are guaranteeing it. Make sure you can really come through with something before you ensure it!
Vocabulary lists containing ensure
Words to Know Before You Defrost the Bird
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"The Hunger Games" Vocabulary from Chapter 1
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Chains
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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:
Wolff said he would talk to Russell to try to ensure he was in the best mindset he could be going into the Hungarian Grand Prix, the final race before F1's four-week summer break.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
Legal experts distinguish between “work on Sunday,” which is generally banned, and “work for Sunday”—all the activities needed to ensure a smooth sabbath for the nonworking majority—which is allowed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
“I’m willing to stay as long as it takes. I’m willing to keep fighting as long as it takes to ensure the safety of the trees.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
Doing so will help ensure the assets are transferred according to her wishes and with as few complications as possible.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026
They were going to work all night to ensure that the German invaders didn’t get a wink of sleep.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
It plans to build a giant event hall downtown named after founder L. Ron Hubbard; blocking road access ensures visitor safety.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
Such emotional familiarity ensures that even a quick dinner over sandwiches in the park can provide us with conversational carte blanche, a space to decompress and demystify without judgment.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
He said the benefit of an application layer like Ontology is that it ensures the LLM doesn’t touch the customer’s underlying data.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
In 2005, Congress passed the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act, which ensures HOAs or similar groups can’t prohibit residents from displaying the U.S. flag on their property.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
But the En Cognito program ensures I understand how each instrument in that bag works.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
Eneluna, along with other technicians, ensured maintenance and safety of the base’s launch, testing and range operations, according to officials.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
Another birdie on the 17th ensured he finished under par and within touching distance of the leaders.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
Now it’s ensured to carry into its fifth decade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
But Mr. Kosky’s sensitive direction ensured that the show was about learning through trials what it is to be human.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Staying close to Caesar ensured that her voice continued to be heard and her needs continued to be met.
From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby
With some religious institutions managing vast sums of money and operating on a scale comparable to major corporations, ensuring transparency is a persistent challenge.
From Barron's ● Jul. 19, 2026
The U.S. has believed for 80 years that ensuring the free passage of Middle Eastern oil and gas to world markets is essential to America’s prosperity and security.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
And just as democratizing access to the internet was a policy concern in the 2000s, ensuring that people can easily get offline is becoming a focus of this era.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026
Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman said the priority "remains identifying those responsible and ensuring that all available evidence is thoroughly examined".
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Pumphrey is an acquaintance of twenty-year-old John Surratt, the messenger instrumental in ensuring that Booth’s operation is fully funded by the Confederacy.
From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly
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.
