ensure

[ en-shoor, -shur ]

/ ɛnˈʃʊər, -ˈʃɜr /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ensure ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), en·sured, en·sur·ing.

to secure or guarantee: This letter will ensure you a hearing.

to make sure or certain: measures to ensure the success of an undertaking.

to make secure or safe, as from harm.

insure(defs 1–3).

Nearby words

enspirit, enstatite, enstrophe, ensue, ensuing, ensure, enswathe, ent, ent-, entablature, entablement

Origin of ensure

1350–1400; Middle English ensuren < Anglo-French enseurer. See en-¹, sure

SYNONYMS FOR ensure

3 protect, guard, safeguard.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ensure ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

en·sur·er, nounun·en·sured, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ensured

In fact, HGTV has ensured that at least one of their shows airs a brand new episode each week of the year.
How the Property Brothers Became Your Mom’s Favorite TV Stars|Kevin Fallon|November 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That confrontation all but ensured that their bill would have trouble getting enough Republican votes in either chamber.
A Texas Democrat Tries to Fix the Border|Ruben Navarrette Jr.|August 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Yet in his state-within-a-state in the 1980s and 1990s, Dostum ensured more gender equality than almost any other Afghan leader.
The Warlord Who Defines Afghanistan: An Excerpt From Bruce Riedel’s ’What We Won’|Bruce Riedel|July 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Western and American interests and safety can no longer be ensured by traditional means.
Here’s What the U.S. Has to Do to Deal With the Mad Middle East|Leslie H. Gelb|July 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST

This, in turn, ensured concentrated poverty and all its attendant problems, as well as bad schools and poor public services.
How We Built the Ghettos|Jamelle Bouie|March 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
How was he, even if he had no respect for his oath, thinking to evade that dilemma which ensured his guest's safety?
The Wild Geese|Stanley John Weyman
It was a poor subsistence that she had ensured, but it would afford a shelter for the winter at any rate.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles|Thomas Hardy
"Pard-like spirits, beautiful and swift" are sufficiently rare and notable to be ensured against oblivion.
Oscar Wilde|Arthur Ransome
And they were bound to fail, because Shakespeare shrank from adding to them the one device which would have ensured success.
Oxford Lectures on Poetry|Andrew Cecil Bradley
Raleigh also ensured Spencer the favour of Elizabeth, a pension of 50l.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction|Various

British Dictionary definitions for ensured

ensure

esp US insure

/ (ɛnˈʃʊə, -ˈʃɔː) /

verb (tr)

(may take a clause as object) to make certain or sure; guaranteethis victory will ensure his happiness

to make safe or secure; protect

Derived Forms

ensurer, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012